Karian of ?
by Fateless Wanderer
Summary: Set after Lady Knight, a young noble struggles to find a place for herself after dicovering her parents aren't who she thought they were. OH HOLD- FOR NOW!
1. Do or Die

This is just an experiment. I've had this idea for awhile, but I never did anything with it. I have a little free time, so I thought I'd give this a shot.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own any Tamora Pierce characters or anything else of hers. All I own are my own characters and crazy ideas.  
  
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Five people occupied a small room. There was scarcely enough space for them all to stand, let alone sit comfortably. The only figure that was seated had coal black hair and a beard to match. On his head he wore a gold crown that marked him as the ruler of Tortall. He looked up into the green eyes of the young man standing in front of him. His bright blue eyes were unreadable.   
  
"It's official. They're demanding your life," King Jonathan of Conte said calmly as if the meeting was about a normal diplomatic affair, instead of the life of one of the realms knights. The man he was addressing swept his hand through his long brown hair, sighed, and looked at his wife. The young woman met his stare with her own almond-shaped brown eyes. Her ebony hair hung loose, she had not had time to put it up in the rush to get to the meeting. She wore a lavender Tortallan style gown, but anyone who saw her would know she was a Yamani. In her arms she carried a small baby girl. Her husband knew she was worried despite the expressionless face she showed everyone.  
  
"Your Highness, what will you do?" asked Sir Nealan of Queenscove looking back into the face of his King. He knew that the letter regarding the demand for his life and the lives of his wife and daughter were from the ruler in Tyra. No more than a month ago, he had fired a servant who he caught stealing money from his family as well as the families living on the Queenscove lands. The servant was forced to leave the fief and somehow managed to reach the capital of Tyra. He then proceeded to try and steal the royal jewels and was caught. The Tyran king traced the servant back to Sir Nealan and held the knight responsible, claiming nobles were responsible for the commoners who served them, disregarding the fact that the thief had been fired.  
  
"Do? What will I do? He's threatening to go to war with Tortall if you aren't killed. I've no other choice."  
  
"Jon, that's not fair. Neal didn't do anything wrong. You know it as well as I do. King Lasten is just being pig headed. Would you hand me over if it was my life he wanted?" Outsiders would have been startled by the way the other knight in the room had spoken to the King. Instead, Jonathan sighed and turned to face the violet eyed, red headed warrior.  
  
"You're right, Alanna. I just don't know what else to do." He looked into the eyes of his Champion and Sir Nealan's former knight master, Lady Alanna of Pirates Swoop and Olau.   
  
Alanna fixed her sight on the younger knight who had moved to place an arm around his wife, Yukimi noh Daiomoru. He looked back at her, knowing that despite her brave words, Alanna was as clueless for answer as her king.  
  
"I believe I have an answer," the fifth member of their "little" gathering said. He was a tall man with coal black hair swept into a horse tall. Numair Salmalin, the realms best sorcerer, looked at the young knight and his small family. "We'll "kill" them," he said as the other four adults stared at him with wide eyes, and the baby stirred slightly. Wasn't that what they were just talking about? "Not really kill them. The letter states that Jonathan can have Sir Nealan killed within Tortall as long as King Lasten's mages can examine the body. Tyra's most powerful mage has power nowhere near equal to mine. I can create false images of Nealan, Lady Yukimi and their daughter and they'll seem reall to the Tyran mages. Once the mages are satisfied and leave, I'll disguise the Nealan's family and your Majesty can give them new titles and lands. Tyra will be none the wiser."  
  
"Do you think it would work?" Sir Nealan asked. He had been silent while the other Tortallans had discussed the fate of his family and himself. He could no longer be quiet. "What about my friends, my family, and my people?"  
  
"I'm sorry Sir, but if this is to work, only the five of us should know that you remain alive."  
  
"But, at least let me tell my father, or...."  
  
"Neal, you heard Numair. He said it is best that this be kept a secret. Do you want to protect your family? Think of Yuki, and the baby. What's best for them?" Neal looked again at his wife as he listened to Alanna's words. Tears rolled down Yuki's cheeks, leaving streaks in her face paint. Yamani's normally didn't show emotion, it was thought to be shameful; but who wouldn't cry if their only two choices in life were death or hiding. Lady Alanna was right. He had his wife and child to think of. How could his daughter grow up if her family was being hunted? Yuki saw the questioning look in her husbands eye and nodded. She knew what he wanted to know, and she agreed. They had to do it.  
  
"What do we do first, Master Numair?"  
  
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I know that was rather short, but its just an idea. Please review and tell me what you think. I need to know if I should continue this futile attempt at putting a crazy idea into words. 


	2. Dreams come true

Well since I've gotten reviews, I guess this idea wasn't so bad after all. Thank you to everyone who encouraged my initial attempt at a TP story, and as a thank you gift, I give you the next chapter. Read, enjoy, be merry, and don't forget to review.  
  
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Soft slippered feet padded quietly on the stones of the castle floor. A girl of no more than ten ran down the hallway. Her long braided black hair flew behind her like a tale. The only sound in the hall was the quiet padding of her feet and the swishing of the silk lilac dress that she wore. No servants came to this area of the castle. They all claimed it was haunted. Ghosts?, the little girl thought. What nonsense. The old castle that her family was living in was built on top of the ruins from the 200 years ago. The place she wandered through now was the remains of one of their towers. The small child reached the end of the hall. Here were two large doors: three men tall and four across. She reached the handle and pulled one of the double doors open. Strangely, a bright light radiated from the room. The girl felt a shiver down her spine. It was nighttime and the servants refused to light candles in this part of the castle, so where was the light coming from? She entered the room and smiled. At last she had found what she was looking for. After searching everywhere, she had found the ancient armory. There were old axes and spears covering the ground. Bows and arrows lay on every surface. The ancient war hammers and maces were all amazing. The girl took the time to study each and every one of them. She looked toward the end of the room and noticed a lone sword. It was the only one in the room, and the light seemed to be radiating from it. Moving closer to the sword, she noticed how plain it looked. The hilt was well made, but lacked ornamentation. She picked it up and wondering what its blade looked like, drew it from its ordinary black sheath. The metal work of the blade was exquisite. Blue light rippled under the shiny steel surface. This blade did not look like it was made hundreds of years ago. Carefully she ran a finger along the blade, wincing at the pain when it sliced her skin. Smiling she wiped the blade on the edge of her handkerchief and placed it back in its sheath.   
  
"Kari! I thought I'd find you here." Karian of Lion's Crest turned around slowly to meet the dark brown eyes of a tall man with blond hair. Her own green eyes were wide.  
  
"Papa! When did you come home? Mama said you weren't due back for another week." Kari ran over to her father, the sword still clutched in her hand.  
  
"I'm not allowed to miss my favorite daughter? I guess I'll just have to leave if I'm not wanted. " Lord Aaron of Lion's Crest gave his daughter a wry smile as she hugged him.  
  
"Oh, papa. I'm your only daughter," she giggled.   
  
"I see you found your present," Lord Aaron said, pointing at the sword in her daughters hand. "I found this place before I left and figured you would find it sooner or later. The perfect place to hide a ten year old's birthday present, don't you think?"  
  
"You bought this for me? And you used you're gift to make it glow!" Her father smiled again as he brought a ball of emerald green light into his hand. "Thank you papa."  
  
"Your welcome. However, I would have preferred that you be interested in being a scholar instead of a warrior, but what child listens to their papa."  
  
"At least books don't bore me completely." She loved to read; if it had pages with words on it she would read it.  
  
"All right my little warrior maiden. Go wash up for supper. Your mother and I need to talk to you tonight." Kari's smile disappeared from her eyes. Her papa wouldn't tell her anything now, she knew that. He always used that line to prepare her for what was coming later. Kari walked slowly back to her room dreading the conversation she would have with her mama and papa that night. They would tell her that the family was moving again. That was the only problem with having parents whose service to the crown required moving from country to country.   
  
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A lone knight knelt beside the three graves that lay on a hill just north of Queenscove. Her gelding stood free a short distance away. The knight brushed her short mouse brown hair out of her green-hazel eyes, as a few tears rolled down her face. A very old and medium sized dog crept up next to his master. She scratched him absent mindedly behind his lone good ear, the other one was in tatters.   
  
"Crying won't bring him back, Kel," said a voice behind her. In her misery she hadn't heard the sound of another horse and its rider come up behind her. Turning Lady Knight Keladry of Masbolle locked eyes with those of her husband Sergeant Domitan of Masbolle. His short dark hair perfectly framed his intense blue eyes. He looked as if he wanted to cry too, and he knelt beside his wife. The sparrows that had been in the trees watching Kel, flew down to land on the shoulders of the two humans and peeped encouragement.   
  
"I know. Its just. How could he have died? Surely there must have been another way?"  
  
"Kel, he died for his country. That's how he wanted to go."  
  
"It still shouldn't have had to happen. His life ended with magic, not in battle. Battle is he would have wanted to die."  
  
"It was his own magic. He stopped his daughters heart, and then his wife's, and then his own. You know that as well as I do. They didn't want Tortall to go to war because of them. Kel, he's a hero." She nodded. Sir Nealan of Queenscove was a hero, she didn't doubt that. What she doubted was that there had been a dire need for her best friend's life to end. She wiped the tears from her eyes as she and her husband stood.   
  
"Dom?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Do you cry for him? I've never seen you."  
  
"Every day for the past ten years. He was my cousin, remember."  
  
"How could I ever forget." She laid the flowers she had brought with her on top of the graves of Sir Nealan of Queenscove, Lady Yukimi and their baby.  
  
"Come," Dom said as he wrapped his arm around his wife and steered her towards the horses that waited for them. "The guests will be arriving for Orion's birthday. You invited them all so you get to greet them."  
  
They mounted up and galloped toward Masbolle. Today was Kel's son Orion's tenth birthday. All of her friends and their children would be coming for a party. Whoever said that being the Knight Commander of the Kings Own was glory and adventure, was sadly mistaken.  
  
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"Mithros, I swear..." Kari said as she entered her bed room and collapsed of her bed.  
  
"There'll be no swearin' in this hous' Lady Karian. Think o' what your mama would say if she knowed that you ben swearin." Meni, the servant who had been assigned to wait on Kari, said from inside the dressing room where she prepared a bath for mistress.  
  
"Sorry Meni. I forgot. Its just... Well Papa's got his "we're moving" face on again, and I'm comfortable here. I don't have any friends because we're always moving."  
  
"Milady, I'm your friend."  
  
"I know that. But you won't get to come with us. Oh, well. At least I'll get to see another country. Maybe I will be a scholar, with everything I'm learning." Meni just giggled at her mistress's silliness. Lady Karian didn't look a thing like her father, but she certainly had a bit of the Lord's warped sense of humor. Kari took a book off her shelf. She had books on every country in the Eastern lands, and she had lived in almost all of them. Since she was born she had lived in Galla, Tusaine, Cathak, Scanra, the Copper Isles, and currently she was living in the Yamani Islands. Here, she noticed, her mother was most comfortable. Their stay in the Islands had lasted for five years. That was the longest she had lived anywhere, spending only a year in the other countries. She opened the book she had pulled off her shelf. It had been a present from her father on her fifth birthday. The book was about Tortall's second female knight: Lady Knight Keladry of Masbolle, formally Keladry of Mindelan. It told her whole life story, including how her former knight master Lord Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak had relinquished comand of the Kings Own to her, and how she had married her best friend's cousin. Smiling, Karian closed the book as she prepared to take her bath. One of the only countries she had yet to live in was Tortall. If that is where they were headed, then she would happily go. She could follow her hero and become a knight. After all she had been born in Tortall, even if she had only lived there for a month.  
  
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Kel stepped out of her room and was almost knocked over by a few small children.   
  
"Garon, Mikal, Julian, be careful. You Pa will kill me if you get hurt. She smiled as the five year old triplets ran past her. They were so excited; they always reminded her of their father.  
  
"I would never kill you, Kel." The boys' father stood there, his grey eyes dancing with laghter, a mass of brown curls on his head. "I'd never be able to even if I wanted to. You've always been way better than me."  
  
"Owen! You made it." Sir Owen of Jesslaw gave a mock bow to his friend.   
  
"I heard you were at Neal's grave today. I miss him too. We all do. After the party, we're going up there. You want to come?"   
  
"Maybe. But... It's just hard. He died on my son's birthday, a day I'm supposed to be happy, but yet I feel I have to mourn him at the same time."  
  
"He wouldn't want to see you sad. He wouldn't want any of us to be sad. Come on. Today's Orion's tenth birthday. He'll be a page soon, so let's celebrate." Owen steered his friend into the main hall of fief Masbolle. Orion of Masbolle stood in the middle of a group that included 11 year old Asten of King's Reach, 12 year old Lillia of Hollyrose, the 11 year old prince Jonathan of Conte, 13 year Raoul of Goldenlake and 8 year old Aram of Kennan The younger children ran around getting under foot, but Kel didn't mind. Instead she picked up 4 year old Sinna of Kennan, tickling her until she was approached by 6 year olds Callian of Goldenlake, Riley of Tasride, and Uliana of Nicoline, and the 5 year old triplets Garon, Mikal, and Julian of Jesslaw. All six wanted the same treatment that Sinna got. After she had lifted and tickled them all, The Knight commander walked over to a small group of adults.  
  
"Tiring isn't it?" Owen asked her, handing his friend a glass of punch. He had an mocking smile on his face.   
  
"How do you do it with three of them? Orion was hard enough."  
  
"Well you don't have to worry about that much longer," said one of Kel's other friends. Kel looked into the eyes of one of the few men that was much taller than she was. He ran a hand through his curly red hair, his grey eyes unreadble. Smiling, he added "He'll be a page in the fall. You must be proud."  
  
"Of course we're proud of him," said Dom as he walked over to stand by his wife. He would never leave her long in Cleon of Kennan's presence without him; Dom was unable to forget that Cleon had been Kel's first lover, despite the fact that he liked the larger man.  
  
They were joined by family and friends over time. Each congradulating Kel and Dom on how fine a page Orion would make in the fall. Among those present were Seaver of Tasride, Esmond of Nicoline, Merric of Hollyrose, Faleron of King's Reach, Roald of Conte, Princess Shinkokami, Lord Raoul of Goldenlake and Malorie's Peak, Buriram of Goldenlake, Kel's parents, brothers and sisters and their families, Dom's family, and just about everyone else you could think of.   
  
(side note: naming everyone is hard!!!)  
  
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A ten year old boy stood in the corner of a crowded room. The party going on was for him. It was his tenth birthday, and in the fall he would become a page. Although he liked quiet, Orion of Masbolle did not stand alone. He was surrounded by his best friends, most were already pages at the palace and were on their summer break.   
  
"You'll like it at the palace," said Asten of King's Reach. He had passed the little examinations and now thought of himself as a mighty second year. Prince Jonathan of Conte, nodded, proud that he too was a second year.   
  
"I don't know..... My pa was never knighted. So maybe he'll feel bad if I am."  
  
"Orion, you know that isn't true. He wants you to be a Knight. Just look at him over there bragging to the other adults," said Lillia of Hollyrose. "And besides, your Ma is the second female knight in Tortall. Knighthood is what you were destined for. Also, we want you to come to the palace. I'll even sponcer you!" The third year page finished her long speech with a smile. She loved to feel superior.  
  
"Great, sponcered by a girl! What will become of me?" Orion remarked smiling at his friend. She knew he was only joking, but she punched him in the arm anyway.  
  
"If that's the way you feel, I'll be your sponcer." The oldest member of their group stepped foward. A glorious fourth year, Raoul of Goldenlake the younger, was agreeing to be his sponcer. Never mind the fact that they were practically cousins, Orion was honored.   
  
"Really, you would? I mean, its not that your not a nice guy; its just... you'll be a fourth year... and me.. well... I'm just a first."  
  
"You'll get over it," remarked the tall page, smiling at the younger boy's amazement. He looked just like his father, with a mass of black curls on his head and coal black eyes.  
  
"I'd be proud to go in your place, Orion." A small boy, not much smaller considering who his father was, joined the conversation. Aram of Kennan had his father's grey eyes, but he had his mother's blond hair.  
  
"You'll get your chance in two years, Aram. Now its Orion's turn," Lillia told him.  
  
"Then its settled? We'll hear no more doubts about you being fit for knighthood?," Jonathan asked Orion.   
  
"No more doubts," the boy agreed. His friends were right. His Ma and Pa did look proud of him. Smiling he excused himself from his friends and went to greet the rest of his guests. Maybe being a page wouldn't be that bad.  
  
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Dinner sat heavily in Karian of Lion's Crest's stomach that night, as she waited for her parents to enter the library; it was where the family did all their serious talking. She sat straight in her chair, trying her hardest to not show emotion. It was times like this when Kari forgot what the Yamanis had taught her and she hated herself for it. One nervous hand moved to smooth her lilac dress, the other to push a single stran of hair out of her face. She didn't like the waiting. She just wished that Lord Aaron and Lady Reela would come soon and tell her where they were going.  
  
"Sorry to keep you waiting, my dear," came her father's sarcastic voice from the doorway, "but I was explaining to your mother the ledgend of how Lady Knight Keladry of Masbolle proved the stump wrong." Karian just giggled. She knew that her father respected the Knight Commander's training master, he just didn't like to show it. However she found the nickname amuzing because her father had never met the man.   
  
"Kari, you know we hate to do this to you." Her mother's voice was soft as she spoke. Brownish red hair framed intence blue eyes, but despite their intensity, Kair never knew what her mother felt. Too much time with the Yamanis, she thought.  
  
"I know, but please, just tell me where we're going."  
  
"Kari this is... well... different. We're not going anywhere. You are." Kari stared at her father in disbelief. Was she hearing him right? Her father, the man who said that they needed to stick together, was really going to send her away. "You won't be away without us for long; just for a year. Then your mother and I will join you. Now don't scowl at me." She was scowling. "I think you're going to like this place."  
  
"Like it? How can I like a place that doesn't have you or mama?"  
  
"Kari, we're sending you to Tortall so you can start training to become a Knight. We aren't supposed to return for another year or so, but we've made arrangements for you to stay with friends so that you can start as a page at 10," said her mother.  
  
"Tortall? Really? I get to go?"  
  
"Yes Kari. Unless you don't want to. I could always tell my friends that you said no," Aaron said mocking his daughter.  
  
"Aaron, leave her be. Don't spoil her excitement." Kari, speechless, ran to her mother and father. Throwing arms around their necks, she hugged and kissed them both. Then she turned and began to race to her room to pack. In a matter of minutes, her dream had become a reality.  
  
"You leave in three days," Reela called after her daughter, shaking her head in amuzement.   
  
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That's all I have for chapter 2. I hope you liked it. Its still a little short, but its 3 times the lenght of the first chapter. Please review, it would mean a lot to me. Oh, and don't expect every chapter to be up this fast. I like to type fast in the beginning and slow down after.  
  
~ShadowKitten2 


	3. Entering a new world

I'm really begining to like this idea. If you're reading this, I suppose you are too. Either that or you're trying to see if it can get any worse. Oh well, enjoy (and review: The dead evil Duke of Conte commands it.)  
  
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A servant moved swiftly up the stairs to her mistress's room. She was a new maid and not yet used to guests as important as the king himself.   
  
"Milady?," The servant asked quietly. "Milady, you have company."  
  
A sleepy eyed lady came to the door. "Who is it then?," she asked calmly.  
  
"Tis a great honor. His Royal Highness has come to speak with ye. He is in the library."  
  
"Jon? Great honor?" The lady didn't think King Jonanthan's visit was special. He came to Pirate's Swoop quite often. "Ask Aly to keep him entertained until I get there."  
  
"Yes, milady." The maid left to tell Alianne of Pirate's Swoop her mother wish. Alanna just shook her head. She had forgotten that the maid was new, and couldn't believe her excited reaction to seeing the king in their home. Wondering what the cause of Jonanthan's visit was, Alanna pulled on blue hose, a white shirt, and a royal blue tunic. She tied her flaming red hair in a horse tail to keep it out of her eyes. After a quick glance in the mirror, Alanna headed to the main sitting room to meet Jon.   
  
Her daughter met her right outside the door. "I wouldn't go in there if I were you, ma. Uncle Jon's not in the best mood of his life." Alianne swept a lock of redish-blond hair out of her hazel eyes. "Good luck," she said as she pased her mother, patting her on the shoulder.  
  
"Thanks," Alanna called after her. She straightened her tunic and walked into the sitting room.  
  
"Your Majesty. How can I help you this morning?"  
  
"Cut it out Alanna. I'm not in the mood this morning."  
  
"Jon, whats wrong?"  
  
"I... you know I hate to ask much of you... its just.."  
  
"Spit it out Jon!"  
  
"I need a favor," He told her, his sapphire eyes pleading. "I promised some one that their daughter could start page training in the fall."  
  
"Yes, the law allows that. You made it. What's the problem?"  
  
"She doesn't live in Tortall. I just need someone to give her a home when she isn't at the palace and to be a family for her. Her parents will move to Tortall next year, but they wanted her to start training at the proper age." "And you want me and George to take her in?" Jon nodded, his eyes still pleading. Alanna laughed. "Of course we'll give the girl a home. You thought I'd refuse? Oh Jon. I thought you knew me better than that."   
  
"So it's settled? Good, she arrives in three days. Her boat will enter a Port Caynn. Will you or George be able to pick her up?"  
  
"Yes, George will be in Corus that day. He'll bring her here. By the way, what's her name and where is she from?"  
  
"Oh, she's Tortallan, but her father is a foreign diplomat. Currently they're living in the Yamani Islands. Karian of Lion's Crest is her name." The king waved goodbye to his champion and left the room. He knew his way around the Swoop; he didn't need a servant to show him out.   
  
"Lion's Crest? Where have I heard that before? Oh, well. Alianne? We're going to have another mouth to feed!" Alanna left the sitting room to go make preparations for the Swoop's newest resident.  
  
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"Wow...... This place is amazing." Karian of Lion's Crest stood on the dock of Port Caynn. Behind her, one of her father's men-at-arms was unloading her two bags from the barge. One contained clothing, the other held her books. On her belt she wore the dagger her Papa had given her on her eighth bithday, and the sword she had recieved for her tenth. Her glaive rested in her hands as she admired the port city.   
  
"Hello there. You must be Karian," A man in his early sixties bowed to her. He smiled and his hazel eyes lit up. Brown hair was swept back by his hand.  
  
"Yes, I'm Karian of Lion's Crest. You are?"  
  
"Baron George of Pirate's Swoop. My wife and I are to look after you while your parents stay in the Islands."  
  
"Oh, I forgot Papa said I'd being staying at Pirate's Swoop. You're the Lioness's husband? Pleased to meet you Sir," she said curtseying to the man.  
  
"Oh, no. I'm no 'Sir'. Call me George."  
  
"All right George. I'm Kari." She smiled at him. She knew instantly that she liked him. She also knew that she would love Tortall. After George helped the man-at-arms put Kari's bags on a pack horse, Kari said good bye to him, sending him back to the Islands with the instructions to tell her parents she was well. Then she set off with George to explore Port Caynn.  
  
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Orion, Asten, and Lillia crept silently out the feif's back gate on their horses. Orion's mare Firelight was used to sneaking around, her master did it constantly. The other two horses (Asten's mare Willow, and Lillia's gelding Typhoon) were restless. Willow attempted to rear.  
  
"Shhh.... Asten, do you want to be caught?," Orion whisperes.   
  
"Sorry. She's nervous. Can we just go? I'm getting bored."  
  
"Yeah Orion. You said this would be interesting." The three young riders were moving through a tunnel that led them from the gate out into the medow. It was only just an hour after dark, but they're destination was three hours away on horseback. "Where are we going, anyway?"  
  
"The Queenscove graves," Orion said as if it were no big deal.  
  
"What?," Asten and Lillia said in unison.  
  
"They're said to be haunted, Orion," Asten cried.  
  
"Then go home," Orion hissed. "My ma told me there's something magic about them and I want to find out for myself, before I go to the palace."  
  
"No, I'm coming." The three of them reached the end of the tunnel and kicked the horses into a gallop. The reached the burial site at around midnight.  
  
"Orion, how do you plan to tell if there is magic around the graves?," Lillia asked the younger boy. Orion just smiled as he pulled something out of his belt pouch.   
  
"You didn't?," Asten cried.  
  
"Sure I did." He held up his mother's griffin feather headband. He tied it around his head, the feathers just above his eyes. "Wow... you're not going to believe this."  
  
"What is it Orion?," Lillia asked, knowing her friend had found something.  
  
"The graves! They're glowing black edged in silver."  
  
"Isn't that Master Numair Salmalin's Gift color?," Asten asked.   
  
"Yes. I studied it," Lillia said proudly.  
  
"But what does Master Numair have to do with the Queenscove graves?" Orion wanted to know. He removed the headband and passed it to Lillia and Asten so that they could see the magic too.  
  
"Probably for protection. After all Sir Nealan's a hero. I met him once," Asten told them. "But I was so young, not even a year old, so I don't remember."  
  
"I met him too. He came to my first birthday party, but I don't remember him either."  
  
"You're both lucky. He died the day I was born. I think my Ma blames me that she wasn't there to save him. She thinks she could have found away for him to live. When she says 'happy birthday' to me, she has her Yamani face on so I can't tell what she's thinking. She visits his grave in the mornings and comes back looking as if she was crying."  
  
"But the Knight Commander never cries," Asten protested.  
  
"And your ma doesn't blame you. Why do you always think there is something wrong with you?," Lillia asked him as the three children mounted their horses to bein the long ride back to Masbolle. Orion just shrugged his shoulders. His friends just didn't understand.   
  
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"Did you like Port Caynn?"  
  
"Oh, yes. I've never seen anything like it. Oh, here. I'd better give you this before I forget." Kari pulled a money pouch out of her tunic. "My papa told me that this was to take care of everything I'll need for my first year as a page." She handed the pouch to George. They were riding east to Corus.  
  
"Kari, I hope you don't mind, but before we head to the Swoop, we're going to stop in Corus for a few days."  
  
"Really? I get to stay in Corus?," Kari said. George just laughed and tosled Kari's hair.   
  
An hour later, they passed through the capital's gates. George saw Kari's eyes grow wide in amazement as she tried to look at everything at once. They paused for a moment outside a particularly loud building.   
  
"What's wrong George?"  
  
"Nothing. Come on lass, I'm gonna take you to meet someone." He got his horse moving again, but Kari looked back to read the sign on the building they had just passed: The Dancing Dove.  
  
"Where are we?," Kari asked as they dismounted in the courtyard of a noble's town home. The holsters came to lead their mounts to the stable.   
  
"You'll see," George told the ten year old. He grabbed her by the hand and led her inside.   
  
"Welcome to our home away from home. Quiet now. The master and mistress of this place are probably sleeping, they're that old," he joked.  
  
"We aren't that old," said Sir Myle's of Olau, now in his early nineties, "But your mother is sleeping." The shaggy Knight came down the stairs slowly. His foster-daughter's husband helped him to a chair by the hearth. "So who's this lad," he asked before the fire lighted the room. "My apologies lass. I didn't mean to mistake you for a boy."  
  
"It's all right Sir Myles. It's an honor to meet the father of Lady Alanna. My name is Karian of Lion's Crest." Kari was wearing red hose and a red tunic over a cream shirt. Her hair was tightly braided behind her so he couldn't see it. So she understood the old man's mistake.  
  
"The lass's parents are diplomats in the Yamani Islands. Jon asked if Alanna and I wouldn't mind looking after her while she began page training."  
  
"So you want to be a knight? Wonderful, another youth corrupted by our Code of Chivalry."  
  
"But Sir, aren't you a knight?"  
  
"Yes, yes. You're right. So what can I do for you two?"  
  
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I wanted this to be part of chapter 2, but decided to make it a chapter by itself. A little short, but I hope you like it.  
  
~ShadowKitten2  
  
P.S- Don't forget to review (Blood-colored Gift surrounds the author.) 


	4. Miracles Happen

If you hate this, and you're still reading it, I have just one question for you. What the heck is wrong with you? Go do something more productive with your time. If you're one of my friends who I've been begging to read this, I hope it lives up to your standards, if not, oh well, just read. If you actually like this, and are reading it upon your own free will, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Now my little friends: eat, drink, be merry, and read. As Owen would say: "This is a Jolly chapter."  
  
Don't forget to review, because as a controller of the immortals, I say you must.   
  
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"Your father and I have been worried sick."  
  
"Kel, he's just a boy..."  
  
"Just a boy? He's supposed to be ready for page training. For that, you need some sense. And stealing," she held up the griffin feather headband, "I thought you knew better than that." She turned around, grabbed Asten and Lillia by the wrists and led them out of the room. "Just wait till your parents hear about this," came her voice from somewhere down the hall.   
  
"Orion? Are you ok?" His father's voice was stern but concerned. Orion and his friends had returned to Masbolle to find Sergent Domitan and Lady Keladry waiting for them. Both Lillia's and Asten's parents were out looking for them. Normally Orion's parents didn't check on him after he told them he was going to bed. Tonight had been different. They had wanted to talk to him about some type of plan. They would never trust him again. As his mother had painfully pointed out, not only did he put himself in danger, but he risked the lives of his two friends as well.  
  
"Yeah." His voice sounded hollow. All he wanted was to crawl into a small corner and die.  
  
"You know she loves you."  
  
"Whatever you say." He was never to sure about that. Her Yamani training made her a secret to him. Had she ever been open with her feelings? That would be a sight. And honestly, was it even possible that she loved anyone, even Dom?  
  
"Orion?" He refused to meet his father's eyes. Dom reached down to take a light hold of his son's chin and raised Orion's face so they looked into each other's eyes. "She was just worried about you."  
  
"More like her reputation." Listen to him, the rational part of him was saying. He's older and smarter than you are. Plus he's dealt with her longer. His irrational side took over. She's disappointed in you. You aren't and never can be the child she wanted. She didn't even want a child and you came at the wrong time.  
  
"Get some sleep all right. We'll talk about this later." Dom stood up and walked out of the room, leaving his son alone to think. Dom had one more person he needed to talk to, and she was going to listen whether she liked it or not.  
  
Orion looked in the mirror. He had his father's blue eyes, and his hair was a few shades darker than his mother's. He sighed. I'm not the child she wanted. I never can be unless she lets me, and she just won't. She always looks at me with that Yamani face of hers. I'd like it better if she showed that she hated me instead of hiding it all the time.   
  
A tear trickled down the boys face. Without really thinking about it, he raised his hand and wiped away the tear. It wasn't the first time his mother had made him cry. He told himself it wasn't his fault that he did what he wanted. He had done everything he could when he was younger to try and get the attention his mother gave to other children for himself. After years of not getting it, he had just given up. What was the use? He yawned as he turned away from the mirror, disgusted with what he saw: a medium hight boy with average strength. He was nowhere near as tall as his mother had been at his age. He though he papa had to have been taller also. As the son of the knight commander, he though he should have been stronger. Orion hated every bit of himself, and he hated his mother for making him that way. His last thought as he pulled off his riding boots and got into bed were: I'll be a knight. Not for her, but for papa.  
  
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"Do you even realize what you do to him?"   
  
"Do? I don't do anything!"  
  
"Exactly." Dom had never spoken to his wife in such a way. "You never talk to him, you never teach him anything, you never praise him, you never hug him, or kiss him, or even smile at him. Do you even love him? I tell myself you do, but I wonder Kel, I really do."  
  
"Of course I love him. He's my son, I have to."  
  
"That's my point Kel. You treat taking care of him as if it were another duty instead of something you want to do. Why can't you show him you care like you do the other children?"  
  
"I.... I... I don't know. I guess maybe its because I'm proud of his independence. Also, he... he... well.. he reminds me of someone... his intelligence... and.. well... it scares me."  
  
"Neal right?" Kel nodded. It was true, he'd noticed it also. Everyday he watched Orion, it seemed like his son was becoming more and more like Sir Nealan. Dom even found himself about to call the boy 'meathead' once or twice.  
  
"I wonder sometimes Dom... maybe the gods reincarnated Neal into Orion. It scares me because our child was born the day he died. Its as if he's a curse sent to haunt me because I couldn't... didn't do anything to save Neal."  
  
"Kel, its not a curse. Its a blessing. The gods knew how much you loved him, so they gave you a piece of him. You need to learn to embrace it." He smiled at her. After ten years, he finally figured out his wife's attitude towards their son. "We can panic if he develops a green gift ok?" She had to smile. Even during the most serious times, Dom always made her laugh. "Now go talk to him. He may still be awake, and there is no time like the present to start undoing ten years of damage."  
  
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Karian spent her first day in Corus quite peacefully. Her morning was occupied by listening to stories that Sir Myles told her. Her favorite was the one about how Lady Alanna, had brought the Dominion Jewel back to Tortall. Kari had heard it before, but she got a lot more of the details from the Champion's father.  
  
She spent the early afternoon with Eleni, George's mother and Sir Myles' wife. Eleni took her shopping in the city; the girl didn't buy anything, but she stopped at every store window. When they returned to the town home, Eleni pierced Kari's ears and gave her a small pair of earbobs (thanks Manda).  
  
That evening, after supper with George, Myles, and Eleni, she returned to her room to write a letter to her parents.  
  
Dear Mama and Papa, Tortall is beautiful. I can't believe you agreed to leave it. Baron George of Pirate's Swoop met me at the dock. I got to spend the day looking around Port Caynn. There are so may things there. Right now, I'm at the town home of Sir Myles of Olau. George says we'll be staying here for another day before we head to the Swoop. It's ok mama, he said I could call him George. Sir Myles and his wife are very nice. I'll write again soon. I love you. Love Kari  
  
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"Kari? Kari, wake up."  
  
"hum... what... oh Geogre. What time is it? Is something wrong?"  
  
"It's just past dawn. Everything is fine, but we're going to the palace today. My son Thom is staying there right now. I need to see him, and you should see what your new home will look like for the next few years. So, come on, get up. I'll wait for you downstairs." He smiled and walked out of her room, closing the door behind him. He left Kari in a daze, wondering why he had just greeted her like that. After a few minutes, Kari gained enough self control to enter the dressing room. She tossed cold water on her face, then pulled on forest green hose and a matching tunic. Her linen shirt was a very pale yellow. It was her father's favorite outfit; he said it brought out the green in her eyes. When he told her that, his eyes filled with so much longing that she sometimes believed he envied her eyes.   
  
Down stairs, George tossed her a roll filled with warm turkey and cheese, Following him out to the court yard, she mounted the horse he had lent her, and the two of them rode in silence to the palace.   
  
They rode through the temple district and in through the palace gates. A holster came to take their horses. Entering the palace, Kari stayed very close to George. The halls was very quiet and she had never been in a place so big. They reached a door at the end of one of the many halls. "This is the mages wing," George had told her when they first entered the hall. George knocked twice and a red headed man with green eyes a little younger than Kari's father. The man quickly hugged George, surprise on his face, and showed them in.  
  
"Da, what can I do for you?"  
  
"Thom, I'd like you to meet the newest member of our house hold: Karian of Lion's Crest. She'll be a page in the fall."  
  
"It's nice to meet you Karian," Thom said bowing to the young noble. Kari returned the bow with a much deeper one because he was older. "Da, you didn't just want me to meet the young lady, did you," he continued looking at his father with accusing eyes.  
  
"What? George, why did you bring me here?" She looked at the Baron suspiciously. George smiled slightly.  
  
"Sorry for lying to you, Kari. It's just I didn't think you would tell me if I asked you."  
  
"Tell you what George?"  
  
" Kari, I have the Sight and I can tell you have the Gift, but I didn't know how strong it was. Since you will be living at the Swoop for the next month, I need to know how much power you have."  
  
"George, I would have told you. The truth is, I don't know. My papa wouldn't let me use it too often. He said that other mages could find us if we used too much. I'm not sure why he was so scared of being located," Kari said. She always wondered why her father kept her family overly protected. She also wondered why, when she looked at him with her own gift, Lord Aaron glowed black with silver around his own emerald green gift.   
  
"Well Da, Karian appears to have a fairly strong gift. It's mostly a healer's magic, about as strong as the members of the Queenscove line. In fact, her gift is green just like their's, curious." Thom had tested Kari while the girl and his father had talked. It was true, Kari did have a healer's gift. Her's glowed a bright green with a tint of blue. What she hadn't known was that it resembled the Queenscove gift. "Karian, do you know how to do any healing?"  
  
"Yes My Lord. U wasn't allowed to do any major healing, but I do know how to. Papa let me read his books. He said one day I could use big magic, so he wanted me to be ready."  
  
"Good. Da, have Ma write a letter to Karian's father. Ask for permission to have Karian's training continued. Ask Ma to teach her while she lives at the Swoop. I'll see that she gets training here."  
  
"Really I get to learn more?"  
  
"If your father agrees, yes. Now I really must get back to work. It was wonderful to meet you Karian. Good to see you again Da. Tell Ma, Alan, and Aly I send my love."  
  
"Will do, my lad. Stay out of trouble." George and Kari were almost out the door when Kari remembered her manners. She turned and bowed to the Lord.  
  
"Nice meeting you, Lord Thom. Good bye." She ran out the door to catch up to George who had started to walk down the hall.  
  
They spent the remainder of the morning exploring the palace and it's grounds. Karian stood at the bottom of Balor's needle and stared in amazement at its height. She remember a story he papa had told her about how Joren of Stone Mountain had kidnapped Lalasa Isran, Lady Keladry's maid, in an attempt to make Keladry late for the big examinations. Lord Wyldon of Cavall, the training master, and Duke Turomot of Wellam, the Lord Magistrate, allowed Keladry to take separate examinations and become a squire.   
  
After lunch with Sir Myles and Eleni, George and Karian placed their belongings on a pack horse and began the week long ride to Pirates Swoop.   
  
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"Orion? Orion are you awake?"  
  
"Maybe," came a cruel voice from inside the room. Lady Keladry walked ino her son's bed room to see him sitting at his desk reading.  
  
"Orion we need to talk." He didn't want to but he couldn't resist. There was something new and interesting in his mother's voice. Orion looked at he face, and for the first time, he saw her without her Yamani mask. "Orion, I want to apologize. Not just for what happened tonight, but for everything." She sat on his bed. "For not showing you the love you needed, The truth is, you scare me."  
  
"I scare you?" Eyes wide with amazement, Orion looked at the Knight Commander. "Mama you scare me. I wanted to be close to you, but you wouldn't let me. I still want to make you proud, but... I'm afraid I'll fail and push you farther away from me."  
  
"Orion, I never meant to distance you. You... well.... let me explain it this way." Kel ewent into a whole story of how similar she felt he was to her best friend Neal. She told him everything she had told Dom. Finally she ended and looked at her son.  
  
"Mama, I can't help who I am. I just wish you would have told me sooner."  
  
"I wish I had also. But better late than never, right."  
  
"I guess..." What should he say next? His mother had finally opened up to him. Isn't that what he had always wanted? It was. The new feeling he had, besides surprise, was he hatred towards her beginning to crumble. Their talk hadn't healed him completely, but it was a start.   
  
"I want you to know that I'm proud of you and I have faith in you. I promise to be more open with you in the future."  
  
"Thanks. That's all I want." He smiled at her. It was a weak smile, but I smile none the less.   
  
"I'm glad. Your father and I need to discuss your plans for the rest of the summer with you in the morning. So get some rest. She helped him into bed, and for the first time in years, she leaned down and kissed him. "Good night Orion."  
  
"Good night Mama," he said before rolling over and closing his eyes. Kel blew out the candle before leaving the room.  
  
"I love you," she called over her shoulder.  
  
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Exhausted from her week long ride from Corus to Pirate's Swoop, all Karian wanted to do was sleep. Unfortunately, Lady Alianne had other plans. Before the girl was even in the door, Alanna's daughter was running around, fussing over her. She took Karian on a tour of the Swoop, after demanding that the girl call her Aly; Karian agreed as long as Aly would call her Kari. It took at least two bells of time to examine the whole place. Finally she was sent to her new room to wash up for dinner. Her belongings were there when she arrived. She was pulling on a forest green gown when a calm knock came from the door. She told her guest to come in as she got the gown situated on her body.   
  
"Karian?" Lady Alanna entered the room. The girl stepped out of the dressing room to greet her hostess. Smiling sweetly she curtsied to the knight.  
  
Alanna's eyes grew wide as she stared at the girl. "I... I just wanted to welcome you to Pirate's Swoop. Did you enjoy your visit to Corus?"  
  
"Yes, thank you. Please Lady Alanna, call me Kari."  
  
"Of course. But please just call me Alanna when we're here. I hate being formal when I'm home." She smiled at the girl. Bowing, she was dressed in men's clothing instead of a dress, Alanna said good bye to Kari, telling the girl they would see each other at dinner in a little while. She left Karian alone to finish getting ready.   
  
Alanna rested herself on a bench out in the hallway. She started to piece things together. The girl's eyes and nose were very familiar to her. Karian glowed with a bluish green gift - more green with just a touch of blue. Her hair and lips matched those of the Yamani's and Alanna only knew one family where a Tortallan had married a Yamani, besides Prince Roald and Princess Shinkokami. And the name Lion's Crest, she had heard it before, 10 years ago. She had helped create it.   
  
"Lord Aaron is Nealan of Queenscove!" Alanna exclaimed smiling to herself as she walked down the hall shaking her head.  
  
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Well that's all for chapter four. I hope you liked it. To those of you whose favorite character is Kel, I apologize for making her such a bitch in this chapter. She's my favorite character, but everyone has to have a negative side right, look at Jonathan, his personality flip flops sever times in TP's books. I also want to apologize for the lack of humor. I was depressed when I started this chapter. I know it was a little sappy, but I can't do anything too interesting until Orion and Karian become pages so bare with me.   
  
Please review or I'll set a Spidren on you.  
  
~Shadowkitten2  
  
P.S. - I'm an author, I can do that ^-^ 


	5. Killing and Healing

After much time spent carefully thinking (side note to people that know me: Yes I do know how to use my brain when I feel like it) about those of you who hat this story and are still reading it, I have come to one conclusion: You're crazy!!!!! When spend time reading something you dislike. Seriously people go do something else. It's not like this is one of the books that you have to read for school. The only exception to this rule is if that if you're my friend and I'm forcing to you read this, and you hate it, you don't get to stop because you love me. Don't deny it, you know you do. For those of you who are in love with this, or even just like it, I am happy to oblige your wishes for more. And so, I give you the fifth chapter. Please read and review, or else a Coldfang shall devour your bones. Thank you ^-^.  
  
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"Dear Lord Aaron and Lady Reela of Lion's Crest, I wanted to inform you that your daughter arrived at Pirate's Swoop yesterday, accompanied by my husband Baron George of Pirate's Swoop. She is very well. I noticed that your daughter has a particularly strong healing gift. She has told me that she has had a little training, which is obvious because her power is strong enough that in order for her not to have destroyed anything, she would have had to have learned control. My request is simple. Your daughter has the potential to go far in the world of healing, and when she becomes a knight, a healing knowledge would be a benefit. I would like permission to continue Karian's training. Also, I would like to leave you with these words: I know.  
  
Sincerely, Lady Alanna of Pirate's Swoop and Olau."  
  
"That's all it says?"  
  
"Yes, Reela. That's all she said."  
  
"What do you think she meant by 'I know'?"  
  
"I'm fairly sure it means exactly what you think it means my dear."  
  
"Aaron, no one is watching. You can say the truth."  
  
Lord Aaron raised his hands and green fire sprouted from them to fill the doorways and windows of the room. Once every opening in the room was sealed by his silence spell, Lord Aaron turned back to his wife. Taking her hands in his he smiled. "Did you believe she would actually forget Yuki. Alanna helped the King and Numair get us out of Tortall. She helped create the name of our fief. How long did you think it would take her to remember that Kari is the daughter of her former squire and his wife."  
  
"Neal, call me that again."  
  
"Call you what?"  
  
"Yuki. I haven't heard that name in years."  
  
"It's not safe. But.... I love you Yuki."  
  
"I love you too, Neal." Her voice quivered when she said his real name. She had remember the first time she had ever seen him. She didn't admit it to her friend Kel at that time, but while all of the pages and squires stared at her, Neal had stood out. Her husband looked down and saw tears in her eyes.  
  
"Enough of this. I does us no good to long for the past," he said.  
  
"I know." She smiled at him. Kissing her lightly, he remove the spells from the room. As the noise of the castle filled their rooms once more, they returned to being Lord Aaron and Lady Reela of Lion's Crest, letting their thoughts of Neal and Yuki vanish just like the spells.   
  
"So what should we do about Karian?," he asked her.  
  
"She needs to learn. Healing is part of her, just as it is part of you, and part of your father."  
  
"You're right. And she isn't with us. Tyran mages will have no way of tracing her Gift. I'll go write to Alanna now." Lord Aaron kissed his wife one last time and left the room.  
  
"At least we have each other," Reela said to herself.  
  
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"Orion. pass me that dagger please," Sergeant Domitan told his son. They and Dom's squad of the King's Own were in the woods just outside the limits of Pirate's Swoop. Only a week and a half remained before Orion needed to be at the palace. The morning after the late night outing to the Queenscove graves, Orion had decided to spend the remainder of his summer traveling with the King's Own. At first, his father's squad and the other squads in the Third Company traveled together accompanied by the Knight Commander. Then, after about a week, reports of strange, killer immortals, began to come from all areas of the realm. First Company and Second Company both patrolled Tortilla's northern and western boarders, so Lady Knight Keladry had to disperse Third Company throughout the country to deal with the immortals. Kel had sent her husbands squad to Pirate's Swoop and the areas surrounding it purposely. It was the quietest of the zones where the immortals had been sighted, and she had no desire for her son to be killed. Dom didn't argue with her placement of the squad only because she had promised him a more important area once Orion was settled in the palace.   
  
"Sure," he said as he handed the weapon to his father. Then he went back to cleaning some of his own weapons: a belt knife, a dagger and a Yamani glaive. A normal boy would have been more interested in a sword rather than a yamani pole arm, but Orion wasn't completely normal. As a young lad, his mother had let him try hers, and he had always felt comfortable with the five foot wooden pole capped with an eighteen inch blade made of the finest Yamani steel in his hands. Now he cleaned the blade of his glaive until he could see his own reflection in it. Dom worked next to his son cleaning his own weapons. Outside the open flap of their tent, man and boy could hear the sounds of the squad as they cooked their dinner, practiced armed and unarmed combat, or cleaned their own weapons. The day had been pretty uneventful. From his seat, Orion had a clear view of the trees that lay about eight yards away. Looking up from his work, the boy thought he saw movement in the distance.   
  
"What's wrong?," his father asked, noticing that his son's attention had shifted.  
  
"Nothing," Orion said shaking his head, "I though I saw something, that's all."  
  
"You've probably been staring at metal too long," Dom laughed, "but maybe I should go check just in..."  
  
"No, its all right. It looked like a large animal, probably just a deer. And I don't really think I saw anything." Orion stood and stretched, placing his glaive on the floor beside him. He smiled at his father and left the tent to go care for Firelight.   
  
"That boy," Dom said, but he couldn't think of what 'that boy' was.  
  
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Lady Alanna turned in her saddle to make sure her companion was keeping up with their pace. A day ago, the knight had received a message from a hunter in the village that there was a strange immortal in the woods. Alanna doubted that it was anything new. "Probably a spidren that tried to disguise itself or something," she had told her husband and daughter when they gave her worried looks after she decided to check out the woods. Karian had begged to come. Now the ten year old and the horse Alanna had bought for her using the pouch of gold Lord Aaron had sent trotted behind the knight as they explored the woods. Magespirit, her horse, kept the pace easily; the young mare was capable of must faster speeds for lengthy amounts of time. Bouncing at the girl's side was her dagger, sword, and shukusen, or "Lady Fan". The lilac silk was decorated with beautiful intertwining vines in a deep shade of green. Beautiful as it was, the fan was also a deadly weapon. The silk was stretched across steel ribs, and the outer ends of the ribs were very sharp. When closed the shukusen was used for thrusting, and when it was open, it was used for slashing. When her parents sent a letter consenting to Kari's further healing training, her mother had sent her the fan as a good luck gift for when she started as a page in a little over a week.  
  
"Alanna, look at this." Kari pointed at a tree that appeared to have been bitten into. A huge rough mark, like that of a human bite in a cookie, shown with an orange, sticky gloop that Alanna and Kari figured was saliva.  
  
"That smells really bad," Kari told her hostess.   
  
"I've never seen, or smelt anything like this before. Whatever left this is definitely close by; this stuff still wet," Alanna told her as she poked it with a stick. The gloop started to eat away at the stick the same way acid eats through chalk. "Be on your guard."  
  
The two of them rode quietly through the woods, finding more and more trees that had the strange marks of what was probably an extremely strange mutant. Each time they found the orange saliva, it was fresher than the first. Kari knew they were getting close, but to what was still a mystery. Deep in thought, the girl didn't see Alanna stop. Magespirit kept walking until the knight grabbed hold of her reins. Startled by the abrupt stop of her horse, Kari looked up and into Alanna's eyes. The knight release her horse, pressed a finger to her lips and pointed at a clearing in front of her. Kari gasped at the horror in front of her. The ground was littered with skeletons, humans and animals alike. Every tree in the area looked just like the first one the had Alanna and Kari had found, and it smelled far worse. A short way in the distance was a crude camp on some sort. That's where the culprits were. The immortals looked a lot like mortal deer. The mature stags had huge sets of antlers on their deer shaped heads, while the bucks had smaller sets, or even little stubs of antlers. The does watched as little fawns ran around under foot. However, the differences between these creatures and the mortal deer were horrifically obvious. They stood and walked on two legs, males wearing dirty black loincloths, and females wearing short, straight dresses, made from the same material. Their hind legs were shaped exactly like those of their mortal cousins, but their fore legs bent like human arms and ended in three digits each tipped with a razor sharp silver claws that marked them as immortal. Their mouths were lined with razor sharp silver teeth, which explained the bones that covered the land. The deer-people's eyes shone a brilliant, glowing red. Kari's eyes were drawn to the back of the camp where smoke rose from an out door hearth. Above the hearth, a stick with an animal tied to it was being spun by two adolescent females, as it roosted above the fire pit. Kari squinted her eyes to get a better look at what the were cooking. She almost fainted in horror when she realized it was a teen girl who had gone missing from the village three days before. Alanna got the girl's attention and motioned for a retreat. Moving quietly and quickly the two of them rode back toward the village and the fief. Once they felt that they far enough away to talk, Kari dismounted and threw up behind a tree. The sight of the girl being roasted like an animal on an open fire had made her sick. When she finished, she swept leaves, rocks, and dirt over the mess she'd made, and went back over to Alanna and the horses.   
  
"I'm sorry," she whispered, ashamed at her own weakness.  
  
"Don't be. I threw up after I killed someone for the first time. It happened when I was squire to the King, but he was a prince then." Kari giggled. At that time, she knew that Alanna had disguised herself as a boy, and it was quiet interesting to think of a teenage boy throwing up at the sight of death. "Now down to business," Alanna said. "There are too many of them for me to take on alone. We're going to need help."  
  
"Help doing what?"  
  
"Getting rid of those… those… well I don't know what they are."  
  
"Get rid of them? How? I don't think even the entire King's Own could get rid of them."  
  
"Kari did you look carefully? I know there seemed to be a lot of them, but they can't use weapons. There were none around, and their claws are to long. Also, I don't think that they let the females fight. I saw one try and kill a rabbit, but a male came over and beat her. If the girls don't fight, it's not likely that the children will. That leaves about 12 adult and adolescent males for us to fight. With a little help, and maybe some knowledge about them, I think we can get rid of them with no problem."  
  
"OK, but where are we going to find help."  
  
"You leave that to me."  
  
Kari rolled her eyes as she and the knight got on their horses. She hoped Alanna was right about their ability to defeat these creatures. They didn't seem natural, not even for immortals. For Kari, one thing was certain, she was scared of them and she hated them. Even Stormwings had a role in the world, they couldn't help what they were, and they were created for a good reason, to scare people away from the idea of war. These deer-people, was there any good in them at all? Kari didn't think so.  
  
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~  
  
"Well, help is closer than I though. There is a full squad of the Kings Own in this area. They heard reports strange immortals and came to check it out. They didn't find anything, but apparently they weren't looking in the right places." Alanna smiled weakly. She knew how bad the situation was, and she knew that there was no guarantee that everyone would come out alive. "Sergeant Domitan of Masbolle and his squad will be here by midday."  
  
"Sergeant Domitan, as in the Knight Commander's husband, as in Lady Knight Keladry of Masbolle," Kari asked excited.   
  
"I take it, you've heard of her."  
  
"Alanna, I still don't think we'll be able to fight these things."  
  
"Don't worry, Kari. Get some rest. We're going to start early."  
  
"All right." Kari laid down in her bedroll. She and Alanna had spent the night in the woods. Alanna had used her gift to hid their camp. No one, and nothing would be able to hear or see them. Now, Kari settled down to nap. She had slept badly, having nightmares about the horrors in the deer-people's camp. Before she could think about it, she was asleep.  
  
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~  
  
Dom's squad arrived while Kari was sleeping. Leaving most of the squad and Orion at Alanna's camp, Alanna led him and two members of the own to see the deer-people. Kari woke up to find a strange boy her own age staring at her.   
  
"Who are you?," He asked as he handed her a water flask. She took a quick sip.   
  
"My name is Karian of Lion's Crest. I'm staying with Lady Alanna and Baron George until I go to the palace to become a page in about a week. Who are you?" Kari wasn't sure what to think about this boy. And she wanted to know what he was doing there.  
  
"My name's Orion of Masbolle. My papa is the Sergent of this squad," The boy pointed to all the seven men that were scattered about the camp performing different tasks. "I'll be a page in a week too."  
  
So this was the Knight Commander's son? Kari never pictured him the way she saw him now. The boy was taller than she was but not by much. Studying his face, she found something that startled her. The boys nose, it was exactly the same shape as her own. A little confused and baffled by the similarity, Kari tried to ignore it. She decided that she liked Orion. He wasn't like other nobles she had met in other countries. In fact none of the nobles she had met in Tortall were like the nobles of other countries.   
  
"What?" Kari asked when she realized that he had been talking to her.  
  
"I said do you want to see my horse?"  
  
"Sure. I'll show you mine." The two ten year olds walked off towards the area where Alanna and Kari had been keeping Magespirit and Skybright, Alanna's stallion.  
  
~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~  
  
Alanna and Dom returned at sunset. The men of the own had erected tents and cooked dinner, which they happily shared with Kari and Orion. The knight and the sergeant both refused the food, saying that what they had seen was enough to keep them off solid food for a month. That was enough to keep the others from asking what had happened. Together, Alanna and Dom entered a tent with Dom's corporals. They set to work discussing a plan of attack. The next morning, George arrived at the camp with one quarter of the fief's men-at-arms. They would fight alongside the 10 men of the Own. Now, the humans out numbered the deer-people. "Remind me to ask Daine about these things the next time we see her." Alanna had told her husband as they humans prepared for battle the morning after the arrival of the men from Pirate's Swoop. Kari had overheard, and couldn't help think that they might not get a chance to see anyone again.  
  
The plan was simple. There was a cliff wall behind the deer-people's camp, and wide, deep stream on the other. This meant that the human force only had to advance on two sides. Alanna split her group of 38 men in half. Kari and Orion had protested that there were 40 able bodies among the group, but both Alanna and Dom told them that it wasn't a good idea to get them killed before they even became first year pages. Instead the two would be lookouts. Kari would be with the group lead by Alanna and George, and Orion was to watch over his father's group. If everything went right, they could corner the creatures. After being capture, they would immediately be executed. The sentries most important job this time around, was to make sure not even one of them escaped.  
  
Quickly and quietly, the humans made their way to the deer-people's camp. Alanna gave a signal for the force to split. She took her group to the unblocked front of the camp, while Dom circled around to the side. They waited in silence. Alanna needed to wait for the signal that Dom's group was settled. An "owl" hooted on the side of them. Dom was ready. Alanna shot a small bolt of purple fire into the air. It went unnoticed by the deer-people, but not by the second team. The archers on both sides of the camp started fireing. Just as Alanna had suspected, females and children were forbidden to fight. The fawns were crowded into a tight ball, the does formed a ring around them and the stags and older bucks added a third ring. The humans rushed toward the deer-people, weapon's raise. The males fought back, but their lack of weapons made it difficult to defend their group.  
  
Kari and Orion had been instructed to stay at the rear and side of the fighting. It was their to tell the adults if any of the deer-people tried to escape, or any more arrived to join the fight. Kari could hear the immortals and humans as they fought. She stole a glance at the fighting and saw that the immotals had been pushed back to the cliff wall. The ground around the battle was now a combination of the skeleton's from the deer-people's meals and the bodies of the dead immortals. Some human wounded lay amongst them, but not many. And most of the wounds didn't look too bad.   
  
Orion shouted, drawing her attention to their job. She looked toward his area, and saw that a buck was trying to escape. In one arm he carried a human baby, and there was a small human child attached to his back. Somehow, he had escaped the battle without being seen. Orion call to the adults, while he used his glaive, something Kari hadn't seen that he had, to keep the buck from further escape. Kari joined his called for help, drew her sword and ran over to join his battle with the deer-person.  
  
The buck had was using his free had to slash out at the boy. Each time Orion called out for help, the buck lunged forward, trying to kill him. Its red eyes glowed a steady blood red. Every once and a while it tried to bite Orion's hands as the glaive rushed toward it. Kari joined her new friend, her sword gleaming in the light. The sunlight, hit the blade and Kari realized that if she angled it right, she could blind the immortal. Kari heard Orion scream, this time in agony. The buck had managed to tear a long gash in the boy's left leg. Loss of blood and pain made it harder for Orion to keep his balance, but her refused to fall. Kari hadn't noticed that the bucks attention had shifted while she looked at her friend. Now he was on top of her, silver claws lashing out. Kari put her sword up to block. Her opponent shifted his stance and attacked again and again. Each time he tried to strike, her sword came up to block. Quickly she tried to slash at the immortal. Her sword grazed the shoulder of the arm that held the infant. Outraged that such a small human female might defeat him, the immortal, threw the infant away from him. Orion, who had recovered his balance, banishing the pain from his thoughts, dove to catch the baby. Realizing that in order for them to kill the immortal, Orion set the baby down behind two large boulders. He drew his dagger and quickly but quietly approached the immortal who was now locked in combat with Kari. The girl saw Orion and realized what he was going to try and do. To help him free the child strapped to the buck's back, she had to maneuver the immortal around. Her first attempt failed and the immortal sliced at face. He ripped open a large gash that ran from her ear to her jaw. She felt the blood rushing away. Ignoring the pain from her wound, Kari again attempted to maneuver the immortal into a better position to benefit Orion. Once the buck's back was to the boy completely, Orion got within range and cut the ropes that held the child. The deer-person felt the loss of weight on his back and whirled around to kill the boy and the child he had just rescued, completely forgetting about the girl with the sword. Orion snatched the hostage and dodged the buck's claws. The immortal managed to cut the boy's ankle, but it was only a small wound. While the immortal had his back to her, Kari had jumped closer to him. In one swift move, she brought her sword up fast, and thrust the sword into the buck before he even remembered she was there. Reaching behind him, the immortal tried to remove her sword from his body. His eyes rolled back in pain and agony. Kari drew her shukusen and slit its throat as a mercy strike. The immortal died instantly.  
  
When the buck lay still on the ground, Kari turned feeling very weak. The adrenaline rush from the fight had left her, and she felt the effects of loss of blood. She walked the two yards distance over to where Orion sat behind the two boulders with the baby, a girl, and the rescued child, a small boy. Both were asleep on the floor beside him. Kari sat and Orion offered her his water flask. Both of their faces were pale from loss of blood and energy. Thankfully the two hostages hadn't been harmed. Kari placed a hand against the side of her face; she felt her hair matted with blood. The wound wasn't too bad; the immortal hadn't cut deep into her skin. With her dagger she cut a strips from her shirt, and bound the wound to prevent further blood loss. Now she noticed that Orion had been wounded pretty badly. The boy had bound his left leg with strips from his own shirt, but the makeshift bandge was already soaked with blood. Kari cut it loose with her dagger and examined it. The deep wound was probably infected, but it was so bad, that she couldn't fix it without using her too much of her gift. She slowly called the green-blue magic inside her to her finger tips. First she burned out all the infection in the gash, then she knit the muscles, tendons and skin firmly back together. When she was done, Orion had a long scar that went from his calf to his thigh. Kari sat back against the boulder. The rest of her gift she used to burn out infections in her head wound and Orion's ankle cut. Those two wounds bleed sluggishly, so there was little risk that they would die of blood loss from them. They only had to worry about infection; Mithros only knew what was on the claws of those immortals. The two watched the battle end, as they waited for the adults to come find them.   
  
All of the adult males had been killed; including the buck that had fought Kari and Orion. Most of the adult females lay on the ground. All that was left were a few adolescent females and the children. Kari could see that the humans didn't want to do the next step, but the immortals gave them no choice. They slashed at the humans with their claws; even the youngest fawns. Kari watched in horror as Alanna, Dom, George, and the members of the squad and King's Own that were still standing, slit the throats of every one of the deer-people. She didn't want to watch, but she feared that if she closed her eyes, she might never wake up.   
  
Alanna found the children behind the boulder. They had been too weak to call out to the adults. All they had been able to do was pray the adults could find them. Alanna knelt first beside Orion and touched the cut in his ankle. Sensing Kari's magic, she was proud to see that no infection remained. She healed the cut instantly, without leaving a scar. Then she touched the scar that was the remains of the boy's leg wound. Looking at it with her gift, she was impressed to find that the work had been done neatly and properly. Smiling she went to the girl. Alanna applied her magic to the gash in her head. Before she finished Kari reached up and grabbed her wrist. "Leave the scar," she begged in a whisper. Alanna obliged, knowing that this was the girls first victory. She had fought hard and bravely, the scar would remind her of a job well done.   
  
"You did well," Alanna told them when she had finished healing. "Now sleep." The two ten year olds were more than happy to obey.  
  
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I hope you all grately enjoyed chapter 5, because I grately enjoyed writing it for you ^-^. I hope all the excitement made up for the sappiness of the last chapter. Anyway you have to review because the Stormwings don't like it when I boss them around. But if you don't I might have to get them to do my dirty work. May Mithros shine upon you and the Goddess bless you!  
  
~ShadowKitten2  
  
P.S. - If you love stories based on Tamora Pierce's book, you have to read Twisted Tortallan Tale and Summersea Saga. Twisted Tortallan Tale is the first story and Sumersea Saga is the sequal. They are by the author crosseyedbutterfly. Both story's are about a group of people who get pulled into the books (I know, sometimes those aren't the best stories in the world, but these are very, very different.) I know the author would be very happy if you would review to her stories, tell he shadowkitten2 sent you. Happy reading. 


	6. Survival of the Fittest

Finally After over a month Mithros has allowed me to update and please my wonderful audience.  Please forgive me for not  updating sooner. As a gift for being such patient readers (and such forgiving ones) I give my longest chapter ever, It's double the length of my normal chapters. Please enjoy.

This chapter is dedicated to Raven: Queen of the Rogue  ^-^

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Kari woke up in the haze of the predawn hours. Her head ached faintly, her final reminder of where the scar that ran from her ear to her chin had come from. Kari looked around at all the cots in the infirmary. There were only three men, two of the guard and one of the Own, and Orion on the other cots. After the battle, those who weren't badly hurt were able to help get the three wounded men and the children back to the village by tying them to their horses. The whole way, Magespirit had been careful not to dump her young ridder. 

"Welcome back to the land of the concious," asked a familiar voice at her side. 

Kari turned around to face the lady knight. "I'm fine. Will the others be ok?"

"They'll be fine after a little bit of rest. You and Orion did a great thing. Not only did you keep that buck from escaping, but you rescued the only remaining liveing hostages. The little ones' parents want to meet with you and Orion later," Alanna told her.

"It was nothing. I just did what was right. After all, its what a knight would have done. I'm just thankful that I wasn't killed before I even got the chance to become a page." 

Alanna laughed. "You'll make a fine page. Oh, and speaking of that, we leave tomorrow morning, so you'll need a good nights sleep tonight. Now come; I think Magespirit needs reasurance that you're alive."

Kari just nodded and climbed out of her cot. Someone had changed her ripped, blood stained shirt to her clean spare, and left a pair of tan breeches beside her bed. Putting them on, she went to visit her horse. 

As she walked to the stables that fighters had been granted use of, Kari passed by a group of the Kings Own talking around a breakfast fire. Sergent Domitan was among them. 

"Well if it isn't one of the little heros. How's that cut doing."

"Its fine, sir, thankyou, but the real heros are you and your men. I only stopped one and nearly got myself killed in the process."

"Just like the Commander is she, Dom?," one of the other men asked poking the sergent in the ribs. 

Dom smiled and told Kari to go back to her business. She saluted him playfully and ran off to find Magespirit, thinking the whole time about what the man had said. Was it true? Could she really be like Lady Keladry? Kari shook her head. No it wasn't possible. There was no way that she, plain old Karian of Lion's Crest was anything like the Knight Commander.

"They're just exagerating, girl. They don't know me well enough," Kari told her horse as the mare ate the sugar cubes her master had brought.

"They're right Kari," said a voice in the stall next to her. Orion walked out from where he had quietly been grooming Firelight. He limped slightly when he walked, but Alanna had assured him that the limp would go away with in a short amount of time.

"How did you get here before me?," Kari asked him, wanting to change the subject.

"There was a short cut behind one of the towns resturants. And you are like her Kari. I heard what they said to my father."

"You people don't know what you're talking about."

"What ever. Are you done with Magespirit? Lady Alanna gave me the adress of that family who wants to see us."

"Alright! Lets go." Kari said, giving her mare one last pat. She strode out of the stables following Orion.

The two of them walked behind all of the villages buildings. Orion seemed to realize that his friend really didn't want to meet any of te Own at that point. Instead he let her walk in silence behind him, deep in her own happy thoughts. 

"We're almost there," Orion said simply, not wanting to startle Kari from her thoughts. He knew what it was like to just want to think, but he also knew that now wasn't the time for such things. Just then a small boy erupted from a small home. He ran to Orion and Kari and latched himself onto the older boy's still healing leg. Orion winced slightly, but then smiled down at the child. The boy let go and turned to Kari. She smiled at him and he instantly latched himself to her and buried his head in her leg. Two adults had followed the boy out of the house. The woman was carring an infant. When they reached Kari, Orion, and their son, the small boy let go of Kari and reattached himself to his parents.

"You must be Orion of Masbolle and Karian of Lion's Crest," said the man, his wife beaming at them. "Please, join us for lunch. Its the least we can do for the two brave people who saved our children."

Orion and Kari followed the two adults into the small house. The woman went to put the baby to bed while the other four sat down in the kitchen. 

"Please forgive me for not introducing myself sooner. I am Aril Lorin (thank you Vixey). My wife Elaine and I want to thank you so much for rescueing Girrol and his sister Syli."

"No thanks necessary sir. We just did what any one with even a little bit of training would have done," Kari told Aril.

"Karian's right sir. You don't have to thank us. We didn't do it for the thanks. We did it because it was right."

"Please, let us give you something in return," said Elaine as she entered the room and placed her hands on Aril's shoulders. My husband is a smith, perhaps we can do something for you there."

"Madam, please. We don't need anything."

"At least let me sharpen your swords for you," Aril begged. Orion and Kari could see that these people would not give up until they accepted the offer. Kari had an idea. She knew that both she and Orion did not want to accept any thanks because that wasn't what becoming a knight was about. She jumped in immeditely before Orion could answer.

"Girrol, have you ever ridden a horse before?," she asked the small boy who sat at the table leaning on his elbows quietly.

"Um... Girrol won't speak," Elaine explained when the two soon to be pages looked bewildered when the boy just shook his head slightly and went back to staring. "He understands, but he won't talk." Kari nodded her understanding; Orion nodded as well. 

"Well, Girrol. Would you like to?" 

This time the boys responce was more enthusiatic. He nodded and smiled broadly. 

"Good then," Kari said as Orion finally caught on to what she was doing. "You can thank us by letting us give Girrol a horse ride."

"And we won't take no for an answer," Orion added as he picked up the smiling five year and gave him a piggy back ride out the door. 

"I suppose we can't get you to change you mind," Aril asked Kari who stood watching the boys leave. She just shook her head and followed them out and back to the stables. She had best saddle Magespirit. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lady Reela of Lion's Crest stood quietly gazing out the window of her Yamani Castle. For Yuki it was good to be back in a country she grew up in. For Reela, it was unfamiliar and desolate. Her joy, her daughter, had been returned to the life she herself missed, both as Reela and as Yuki, but up until this point she had been able to bear with it. Then she and Lord Aaron received another tell tale letter from their daughter'd keeper.

"She's been what?," Reela asked her husband slowly, but loud and clear. She turned to face her husband who stood leaning against the wall with the letter clutched in his hands. He had just finished reading the letter.

"In a battle with a new breed of immortal."His eyes said he was fine with the news, his white knuckles revieled the truth.

"Is my baby alright?," Reela begged, wanting to know that Karian was safe. In her mind she pleaded with Mithros for her little girls life. 

"She's absolutely fine. She even proved her healing skills by healing another child who was with them," Aaron told her, the relief showing in his face as if saying it outloud confirmed what the letter had said. 

"You're not lieing to me Aaron are you?," nervous worry sounding in her hollow voice. The laughter in it had left for Tortall with Karian two months before.

"Would I lie about something like this?"

"No, I don't suppose you would." Reela knew that her husbansd would joke, but never about something like this. 

"I know you're worried about her Reela, but she's a grown girl. She's going to be a page. There will be a lot more of these things in her future. You need to get used to it." I've got to get used to it, he thought to himself. Inside, he was just as worried about Kari. Maybe even more, because he knew what awaited his only child in the Chamber of the Ordeal, if she made it that far.

"That's the key word. The future. She's just a baby Aaron, and what makes matters worse is that we can't be there with her. She could be in major danger, and we won't know about it until its too late." Reela was slighly calmer, talking about her feelings with Aaron always helped, and try as he might, her husband was no Yamani. She could read his every emotion, though she never told him so. 

"Reela I know its tough. But we need to trust that Kari is capable of doing anything any other page is able to do. Just because we have to stay in hiding is no reason to punish our daughter."

"Do you think Alanna is taking good care of her?," Reela asked, switiching to the 'no one is a better mother than me' arguement.

"There aren't very many people in Tortall that I trust more than her. The only other three are my dad, Kel, and Dom. Kari couldn't be safer. And who knows, maybe they'll all end up looking out for her."

"I hope so. When did his Magesty say we could return again? I want to see Tortall. I want to see how much its changed." Reela was determined to know the exact minute, the exact second she could hold Kari in her arms once more. The exact second she could step foot in a country she hadn't been in for over ten long years.

"We can go home next midwinter." 

"Really that soon? We won't miss her big examinations." Aaron had finally provided the por woman with some good news. It was about time too, she though.

"Yes. And we'll be the proudest parents there. Now come on. We need to get some rest. Big day tomorrow you Know." Aaron said as he walked over to their bed and sat down.

"No Aaron, I don't know. Remember, you refused to tell me."

"Oh, right. Well I guess you can have a little hint. We're having a visitor tomorrow."

"Really who?"

"Now do you really deserve to know?"

"Yes, Aaron I do. I just recieved the worst news of my life, so I believe you owe me." She glared at him with her hands are her waist. She was a distraught mother, she was dangerous.

"Now, I don't see it that way." 

"You don't, huh? Well what can I do to change your mind?" Reela decised to play along instead of hurting her beloved husband, but he was looking for a punch in the nose. 

"Oh I don't know. How about a little kiss."

"For you or the cat," Reela asked, pointing to the little cat that sat next to her husband, " Cause I'd rather kiss the cat."

"Now you don't get to find out." Aaron said pretending to be hurt.

"Oh, please. Come on, tell me."

"Well I don't know?" Aaron teased. 

"Please!!!"

"Alright. Master Numair is coming to visit for the first time in ten years."

"You're joking," Reela said, not sure if she actually believed him or heard him right.

"Nope. He's coming to help us get ready to re-enter Tortall. If all goes according to plan, by the time Kari is a squire Lord Aaron and Lady Reela will be permanent memembers of Tortall."

 The smile that had spread over Reela's face quickly vanished when she heard her husbands last sentence. "We can't resume our old lives?"

"Sorry Reela. That's impossible. Everyone thinks we're dead. The last time anyone in Tortall raised the dead, a great many people and animals died."

"Lady Alanna's brother?"

"Roger of Conte is all in the past, just as our old lives are." Aaron said sorrowfully. He knew that his wife had always thought that they could return to Tortall and become Neal and Yuki again, and he had so wanted to give her that.

"Do you think we can face our friends again and not say anything?" How could she face Princess Shinko, or Kel, and not tell them who she was.

"We can't. We mustn't say anything to them."

"I guess your right."

"Please, Reela. Lets just get some sleep."

"Alright Aaron." But it wasn't alright. Everything was terrible. What benefit did hiding have over being dead. Yuki was dead, Dead and buried along with Sir Nealan of Queenscove and their unnamed baby. And now they could never return. What was the use in even being alive?

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A week later, Kari gazed upon her new home lovingly. Magespirit figited under her, as did Firelight beneath her own master. The two ten year olds looked at each other and then back at their escorts. 

"Well, what are you waiting for? Lets go!" Alanna told them, nudging her own mount into a trot. Dom followed. Kari and Orion laughed and raced to catch up. They were finally going to start their training. 

Minutes later they slowed their mounts to a walk and road through the busy streets of Corus to the palace gates. Both of the youngsters were exceptionally nervous. They lingered behind the adults as if they had gone shy all of a sudden. Dom looked worried. Although he had only known Karian for a week and she had only been concious half of that time, he didb't expect to see her nervous. Orion, usually outgoing and willing to take risks was just as quiet and nervous as his new friend and year mate. When Alanna notice that her companion was watching the children, she leaned over and assured him that the nerves were a natural part of entering page training. Dom settled a little, but he still wondered if either Kel or his cousin Neal had felt like the children did.

The palace court yard was empty except for a holster, a young man, in his mid twenties, who seemed to have a gift with the horses because all four of the arrivals mounts raced over to him the moment their riders had dismounted. Kari could see that his hair was blond, and when he looked up to greet Magespirit she noticed his deep set blue eyes. He smiled at Kari and she quickly turned away blushing, aware for the first time that she had been staring. Orion seemed perfectly comfortable around the holster. So did Dom, as if they were old friends. Alanna seemed to know the man to but she hung back a little.

"Orion, are you ready to become a knight like your mother?," The young man who looked like he could have been born in Scanra asked. 

"I guess," Orion answered shrugging his shoulders. Dom smiled and placed his hand on his son's shoulder. 

"And who is this lass," the man asked.

"Tobeis Boon, I'd like you to meet Karian of Lion's Crest. Kari, this is Tobe," Dom explained. Kari bowed, since she was wearing breeches. Tobeis Boon, where had she heard that name before? Oh, well it would come to her eventually.

"Nice to meet you Kari," Tobe said. "Now please excuse me. The Horses want my attention."

"Tobe, Firelight and Magespirit will be staying in the pages stables. Nightshade and Bloom, and the pack horse will be leaving with Alanna and I a little later."

"Of course. Do you know where to go or should I summon someone to come take you to see Lord Padraig haMinch?"

"No, thats ok Tobe, we know where to find him," Alanna told the him. Tobe nodded and turned away leading four very happy horses. 

"Kari, Orion, I'll have someone bring your bags to your rooms. Take care," he called back over his shoulder. Kari watched Magespirit go in longing, wanting her friend by her side.

"You'll see her again shortly," Alanna whispered in her ear, and smiled when the girl looked at her in surprise. Then she and Dom lead the way up into the palace, Orion and Kari had no choice but to follow. 

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Kari sat on the bench outside Lord Padraig's office. Alanna, as her guardian sat beside her quietly. The girl was nervous, and Alanna knew that things would have been better for the girl had her father been there instead of a woman that she had just met a couple of months before. Kari looked at the door that lead to the office. Orion was in there with his father, so why did hers have to be so far away. And what was taking so long. Would Lord Padraig question her about her fief? She'd never even been to it. And her parents, well they were a puzzle themselves. Would Lord Padraig think less f her because of them? Suddenly the door opened and Orion walked out following a palace worker. He stopped quickly to tell Kari that he would see her at dinner and then raced to catch up with his guide who was halfway down the hall. Dom had left the office and sat on the bench and watched his son until he was no longer in sight. Alanna touched his shoulder lightly, she remember how it felt when her son Alan became a page.

"Our turn," Alanna told the girl, clutching her shoulder and turning the girl away from the direction that Orion had gone in and into the office. 

"You must be Karian of Lion's Crest," said the man behind the desk. He was older, and balding on top. What was left of his hair was black, as were his eyes. Karian just nodded, but then Alanna nudged her slightly.

"Yes, My Lord."

"Your family doesn't live in Tortall?"

"Not currently My Lord. They're in the Yamani Islands."

"I see. And you're her guardian for the time being, Lady Alanna?"

"Yes My Lord. Lord Aaron of Lion's Crest has placed Karian in my care until the time that he and his wife return to Tortall."

"And do either of you know when that will be," the man asked, not meanly, but not nicely either. 

"I believe, sometime next year, My Lord."

"Very well. You know why you are here, am I right, Karian?"

"Yes My Lord."

"You are here to learn chivalry and the use of combat. You will also learn etiquette, reading, writing, history, and mathematics. There will be no complaints from you or about you. And you will not receive any special treatment because you are a girl. Do you understand all that?"

"Yes My Lord."

"Are there any questions?"

"No My Lord," Kari responded with the traditional answer.

"Well then you may say your goodbyes."

Kari turned to Alanna and hugged her. It wasn't to hard to say goodbye, because they knew they would see each other very soon. As Kings Champion, The Lioness was always around. 

"I'll see you soon," Alanna promised. Kari nodded.

"Could you write my parents and tell them I miss them, I don't know when I'll get the chance." 

"Of course," Alanna told her. 

"Are you ready?," Lord Padraig asked Kari.

"Yes, My Lord," she answered, just noticing the small woman who stood in the corner. The woman stepped foward. 

"When the bell rings for supper, leave your room and wait outside. Your dismissed," Lord Padraig told Kari and the woman motioned for Kari to follow her. They left the office with Alanna behind them. Dom smiled at her as she passed him and she smiled back, but didn't stop. 

Kari followed the woman silently down so many halls, Kari was positive she would be lost within minutes. Suddenly they halted, and Kari noticed a door with her name on it. A few doors down was Orion's room, she could see his name where it was chalked in on the door. The woman handed Kari the keys to the room, bowed, and then left quickly.  

The girl entered the room. It was plain. A wardrobe, a bed, a desk and chair, and a window seat were the only furtinture in the room. A door at the rear of the room led to a simple washroom. Her bags sat on the bed, waiting to be unpacked. Home Sweet Hone, Kari thought, as she started to put her belongings away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nervous and shaking slightly, Karian stepped out of her room whering a pair of tan breeches, a lavender shirt and a brown tunic. Her dagger, which normally rested at her side was inside her room along with her sword, gleive, and bow. The bell had rung to announce dinner, and Kari had followed Lord Padraig's orders. She saw that Orion had done the same. Between them were two other first year pages, one boy and one girl. A line of older pages were marching down the hall towards them accumulating more pages as it neared them. At the head of the parade was Lord Padraig. 

"Allright pages, you know the drill. Each of the first years needs as sponser, and remember, no one gets dinner until they are all spoken for. So we'll start with you....," 

"Leon of Malden," said a tall boy. He had cold blue eyes and red hair. 

"Who will sponser him?," Lord Padraig asked the pages surrounding him. 

"I will," volunteered a blond second year page in the very back. When he stepped foward she could see that the boy had the same icy blue eyes as Leon. 

"Thank you, Haret of Stone Mountain." Lord Padraig continued on to the next page, Shale of Tires, a girl slightly taller than Kari with dark brown hair and black eyes. The girl's fourth year sister Margata took Shale under her wing. Next was Orion turn. After He announced his name, a tall fourth year stepped foward out of a group that included two second year boys and a third year girl. 

"I'll sponcer him," said the boy, black eyes dancing while his black curls bounced on his head. 

"Alright, Raoul of Goldenlake. He's all yours." Orion just marched over to the group of pages. Kari smiled. She should have known he's have friends here. They were probably the sons and daughter of his mothers friends. 

"Name." Lord Padraig's voice boomed through her thoughts.

"Karian of Lion's Crest." No one knew her or had even heard of her fief before, thus no one came foward. Kari didn't see the nudge that Orion gave to his friends. When they looked at he questioning, they realized that the new girl was a friend of his. Jonathan, whos appearance matched that of his father's and his grandfather's spoke up.

"My Lord, may I sponcer Kari?"

"Of course, Jonathan of Conte. You may sponcer Karian. Well that's all the new comers, sponcers tomorrow you get them their practice cloths and show them around. First years, get used to the bells. We start bright and early in two days time. Lets go to dinner."

The other pages and their sponcers as well as the pages who weren't sponcers headed off down the hall. Orion and his friends stayed behind. 

"Kari, I'd like you to meet Raoul of Goldenlake, Lillia of Hollyrose, and Asten of Kings reach. I believe you've already met prince Jonathan."

"Nice to meet you all. And that you your highness."

"You're welcome, but I'll only be your sponcer if you call me Jon."

"Deal, if you call me Kari."

"Deal."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They came at the Own and the riders from all directions, razor sharp claws and teeth ready to strike, eyes glowing a blood red. Kel called for her men to hold position. The Own had been backed into a circle around a family of commoners. The riders, that were outside the Owns protective circle, attacked every one of the enemy they could see and reach. Whenever their foe came within arms reach, the men of the Own attacked with fury. Kel didn't need to command them to stay put, because there was nothing in the world that could make they leave the poor family unguarded against the menace that they faced. 

Kel's heart beat rapidly as she swung her gleive around to meet the next attacker. If the enemy kept comming, she was sure they would loose. They had already lost two of the Own and three riders. Kel knew they needed help, or else they would die at the hands of cold, merciless immortals. The only thoughts in Kel's mind were about the need for reinforcements, the need to survive, and the shock that her husband and son had fought these creatures and won. 

Her opponent brought his arm around, attempting to decapitate the Knight commander when suddenly an arrow flew straight through him and he wound up dead on the floor, silvery red blood pooled on the ground around Kel's feet. What was going on? She was sure that her archers had run out of arrows long ago. A trumpet cried out announcing the approach of friends. Three banners were held high in the air showing Kel that the over one hundred reinforcements came from fiefs Jesslaw, King's Reach, and Hollyrose. At the very front, the three Knights led their warriors to the fight. Faleron, Merric, and Owen all reached Kel's side at the same time, while their men split in half. One half challenged the deer people in open combat like the riders, while the other half formed a second circle around the Knights, the Own, and the commoners.

Kel smiled slightly to her friends, thanking them for coming to the rescue, then turned her attention back to the battle she was having with one very determined young buck. Her almost non-existant temper flaired when he managed to get past her defence and nearly rip her left arm off of her body. Blood immediately soaked the linnen shirt and cloth padding she wore (there had been no time to put on full body armer.) Ignoring the pain that swept through her entire left side, the Knight Commander thrust her gleive straight through her attacker, resulting in a splatter of silvery red blood. With the reinforcements to take care of the remaining immortals, Kel was able to settle herself on her horse, NightBlossom (son of Peachblossom and Hoshi ^-^), and address her wound. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Owen was positive that they had made it there just in time. When they arrived Kel's eyes told the tale of a battle that had raged for hours and showed no signs of success for the exhausted humuns. The shock on Kel's face when she saw the arrow that had pierce the enemy that was almost her doom, told Owen, that it was perhaps not a good idea to tell Kel that it was his arrow. He could never bear it if one of his best friends felt that she should be indebted to him. He would deal with what to tell her later, if they survived.

Thinking about survival brought Owen's thoughts back the the very large buck that was attacking him and his horse, Jolly (what? I know its a stupid name, but it is Owen ^-^). Own slashed at the buck, slicing off one of its arms, yet the immortal kept on fighting. Jolly reared and brought her hooves crashing down ontop of the buck. Owen heard the snaping of the immortals spine, just as its claws scraped into his leg. The immortal was dead, but one of the scratches was deep. It went almost to his bone, and Owen knew it would probably be infected. Since no more of the immortals were able to break through the ranks of the soldiers, Owen was able to cut strips from his shirt and bind his wound.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Merric refused to stay within the inner circle of with his friends. He might have been a noble, but he was a knight, and he wasn't going to sit around and wait for the enemy to come to him. The immortals were determined to kill the humans, thus Merric would not be satisfied until the last of the deer people were dead. 

Sword raised high above his head, Merric screamed a challenge to the cheif immortal. His men begged him not to, but Merric would not hear them. This fight had to end, and if he could take out the leader, hopefully their ranks would collapse. 

The big buck responded to Merric's challenges. He came foward with a murderous look in his glowing blood red eyes, a snarl on his face, and his sharp claws raised in the air. The man and immortal clashed in battle, sword slaping against the silvery metal claws, horse flesh close to deer flesh. They were equally matched in strengh and neither could gain the upper hand. Suddenly, Merric pulled back and then plowed the immortal through with his sword. As a last resort, just before Merric's sword cut through his bowls and a foul stench filled the air, the immortal spit a horrid, repulsive, green fluid into Merrics face, blinding the valient Knight. As the immortal collapsed on the gorund and died, Merric screamed in pain and fell from the back of his horse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Faleron had fought beside Kel the entire time. As the battle drew to a close he finished killing his last opponent and examined his own injuries. A few cuts and scratches covered his arms where the immortals claws had cut through his armer, and there were a few burn marks on his hands from where the immortal's saliva had struck his skin. He judged that none were so bad that they needed immediate attention and figured they would just have to be checked for infection after. 

Faleron watched the rest of the battle from his horse. The riders, the soldiers, and the Own fought bravely. The casualties after the arival of Faleron, Owen, and Merric's combined forces was zero, bring their total losses to five. Not bad considering the size and agressive nature of the enemy. Faleron's eyes locked on the spot where Merric battled the biggest of all the Immortals. The knight seemed to begaining the upper hand, so Faleron resisted the urge to gallop over to his cousin and aid him. Merric had his pride, and Faleron knew that he would not be thanked if he helped the younger knight win a fight he could obviously win on his own.  Faleron watched as Merric's sword went stright through the buck, smiling at his triumphant cousin. Suddenly the smile vanished from his face when Merric toppled off his horse, screaming for dear life. 

Fear beyond anything he had every felt, well except for the one time during the midwinter after his eighteenth birthday, welled up inside Faleron as he spurred his gelding to his fastest speed and reached his cousin. He jumped off his horse while it was still in motion and knelt by his cousins side. Immediately he saw that most of the green saliva had disappeared from Merric's face. It its place were massive burns. Nearly 90% of the Knights face had been scortched by the acid like saliva. Faleron stripped off his chain-mail shirt, and wripped strips off his linnen shirt beneath. He wiped the remainder of the saliva off the knights face, trying to reassure his screaming cousin that everything would be fine. He then wrapped Merric's head in the strips of linnen and called for help. There was no way he could move the fallen knight himself. The battle ended and Kel and Owen raced over bring a healer with them. The healer dropped to Merric's side and remove the bandages. Shaking his head, the healer told Kel, Owen and Faleron that there was a small chance that Merric would live, and an even smaller chance that he would ever be able to see again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kari woke up to the sound of a loud bell on her third day at the palace. She had spent her entire second day getting to know Orion's friends. She like them all. Lillia helped Kari get used to being a female page, while Jonathan was fast becoming someone for her to admire. Eventhough he was the heir to the throne, he wanted the other pages to treat him as though he were a normal person. However, Jon was never afraid of using royal authority if the situation he found himself in called for it. He was more like his grandfather personality in spirit, but definitely his father's twin in personality. He seemed to genuinly enjoy being Kari's sponcer. Raoul was the groups clown. Everywhere they went he managed to make a joke which would send them all into fits of laughter.The more laughter he got, the more encouraged he was to tell another joke.  Then there was Asten. Normally quiet and shy around the rest of the group, he seemed to enjoy talking to Kari. They had spent part of the second day in a small corner of the royal library telling each other stories about their lives. Asten loved hearing all of Kari's stories about all the countries she had lived in, while she listened with interest when he spoke of fighting beside his father, a Tortallan Knight. Unlike Lord Aaron, Asten's father Faleron was a well known protector of the realm. 

Stumbling out of bed, she heard a knock on the door. She raced to open it and nearly tripped over the riding boots that Jon had taken her to get the day before. Regaining her balance, Kari opened the door to admit the quiet servant who had shown her to the room two days before, and who had come to prepare her bath the previous day. Kari knew from her previous encounters with the maid that the woman wouldn't talk at all. Kari just moved to the side to let the woman do her job. While the maid worked, Kari got her practice cloths out. The maid came back out of the wash room, indicating that the girl's bath was ready, and went to start a fire in the main room. Kari said goodbye to the woman, not expecting an answer and went into the washroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Twenty minutes later, Kari was ready to start her first day as an official royal page. The second bell of the morning rang, and the second knock of the morning sounded on Kari's door. This time she was careful not to trip over anything on her way to answer it. Opening the door, Kari found Jon standing there  with a grin on his face. 

"You seem happy," she told him.

"Don't get used to it. I'm just excited to see how your first day will go. Normally, I won't even be human this early in the morning."

"Whatever," Kari said, rolling her eyes and starting the walk to the pages mess hall for breakfast. It was her first day, and she didn't want to make everyone have to wait because of her. Jon just shook his head at the first years enthusiasm and watched her walk down the hall, waiting to see how long it would take before the girl realized that she was going the wrong way. Only when Kari noticed that the other pages were going the other way did she turn around and sprit back to Jon. 

"Wrong  way, huh?," she asked her sponcer, blushing when she reached him.

"Yep," was his simple answer. He grabbed her shoulder and steered her in the right direction, trying not to burst into a fit of laughter. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kari and Jon got their breakfast and joined Orion, Lillia, Asten, and Raoul at the groups usual table. All of them except Orion looked like they would rather be back in their beds. Even Raoul had no jokes to tell. Instead he quietly ate his oatmeal. Since none of the others were in the mood for conversation, Orion and Kari started their own. 

"You ready for the practice?"

"Yeah, Raoul told me we have hand to hand combat first."

"Then we have weapons, then archey, and tilting. I can't wait to do tilting. I want to see how Magespirit will do."

"I'm sure Firelight will work well with Tilting. She's the daughter of my mother's first horse. She was born to tilt."

The older pages just rolled their eyes as they listened to the first years talk. Kari and Orion would learn soon enough. The training was not going to be as fun as it sounded in  words. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They walked out onto the weapons field in a small bit of pain. Falling was the easy part. It was taking the beating from each other that left both pages sore. Kel had taught her son Yamani fighting and Reela had done the same with Kari. The two pages thought it was funny how much they had in common. They laughed as they tired to ease the pain they felt on their backsides. Even Leon and Shale seemed to be in good moods, buzzing around their sponcers, chattering constantly. Still Kari and Orion's friends rolled their eyes. First years would learn soon enough. 

Lord Padraig waited for them on the training field. 

"First years over here," he called. "You older pages get your practice staffs and pair off. Work on some basic blocks. If I catch anyone doing anything complicated, it'll mean to bells of laundry work."

Kari, Orion, Leon, and Shale went over to where Lord Padraig was waiting. He had a barrel of practice staffs.

"Pick one and pair off," Padraig told them. When he said something, the pages obeyed. Within seconds the four first years had their staffs and were paired off. Orion facing Leon, and Kari facing Shale. 

"Now we learn basic blocks and strikes………………

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kel sat outside the healers tent with Faleron and Owen. All three desperately awaited the out come for Merric.

"How did you guys know we were in trouble?" Kel asked Owen and Faleron. Some how she felt that Merric's injury was all her fault. If the men hadn't had to come to her rescue he wouldn't have gotten hurt. 

"Milly was out riding with the boy's and she saw the fight. She knew it was the Own, but she didn't know that it was third company," Owen told her. "She told me, and I sent messengers to both Faleron and Merric." 

"We're knights Kel. Just like you. When someone's in danger, we're supposed to help, not sit around and let someone else take care of it," Faleron told her.

"Kel, This wasn't your fault," Owen told her.  
"No, it was mine," Faleron told them. Both of his friends looked at him in surprise. "I saw him fighting, but I thought he was fine. I could have saved him. But I didn't. I just stood there. And now…."

"Lady Keladry, Sir Owen, Sir Faleron?"

The three knights turned to answer the young novice healer that stood in the door way of the healer's tent. 

"Sir Merric is stable."

"Really? He's alive?," Kel asked not believing what the novice had told her. Just a few hours ago, the healer had said that their was little chance that the knight would live. 

"Yes, Lady Keladry. He's alive, and Master Kilth says that he can go home after two days rest. Master Kilth did everything he could for his eyes, but only time will tell if Sir Merric will ever be able to see again."

The three knights just nodded in relief. Not being able to see was bad, but not being able to not being able to live was worse. Faleron stood up and started to walk towards the tent that had been put up for him.

"Where are you going," Owen asked.

"I'm going to write to Lord Padriag and Wilamina. Lillia and Merric's wife really should know what happened."

"Good idea. Maybe I had better write to Milly and tell her what happened also."

"I'll write to Dom later. I'm going to got see how Merric feels right now."

"See you later," Faleron said hanging his head.

"Faleron, I wasn't your fault," Kel said following the novice into the healer's tent.

"Kel?,"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

The knight commander just smiled and entered the tent. They had a powerful new enemy on their hands, and she wondered if Tortall's knights and soldiers would be enough to defeat them.

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That's all for chapter six. Again, I apologize for the long delay in the updating, but I've had a lot to do lately. I'm not going to threaten you to review right now, because if you are still reading this, then you should no by now that I love getting reviews from you guys. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and will review upon your own free will. 

A quick thank you to Katlin since she's the only one of my friends actually reviewing this story, and a separate thank you to Brenna since despite the absence of reviews from her, I know she has been reading.

Anasha, In answer to your question, this story is most likely going to go through Kari's page years to right after she takes the big examinations. Whether she passes or fails remains to be seen. If she does pass, there may be a sequel and possibly a third if she passes her ordeal. Hope that helps.

Now, Everyone, I need your help. I still don't have a name for the deer-like immortals. My challenge to you: help me come up with a name. If you've got ideas put them in your reviews. I can't put up the next chapter until I get some names so go a head, be creative.

~ShadowKitten2


	7. Reality Sucks

And now, my faithful readers, the glorious, but short, chapter 7. Happy reading my friends. Don't forget to review, I'm still the master of the immortals.

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Staff practice for the young pages went well. No one got any punishment work, and every one of the first years did "as well as could be expected," as stated by Lord Padraig. Archery was a different matter all together. Orion managed to hit the bulls-eye every time, Leon and Shale half of the time, and Kari managed to hit it once. She wasn't used to the Tortallan bows, and the only archery she did know how to do was with the Yamani bow. As punishment, Kari was to report to the practice court for one bell after supper every night until she had enough practice that she was able to hit the bulls-eye 75% of the time. Kari took the punishment silently, but inside she secretly cursed her parents for not teaching her anything Tortallan. 

The pages next class was riding and tilting. Leon and Shale raced each other to the stables to choose a mount since they hadn't brought one with them. Kari walked faster than usual because she was eager to see her mare since they hadn't seen each other since they first arrived. 

Magespirit butted her head against Kari's chest when the girl first opened her stall, and they stood calmly and patiently for her master, so that Kari could easily saddle her. 

"Excellent relationship with your mount, Lion's Crest," Lord Padraig said as he passed by everyone, inspecting their work. "Masbolle, tighten that strap; You know better than that, Goldenlake; Excellent work, King's Reach."

"Mount up," Lord Padraig called when they entered the practice field. They spent the next bell going over different paces, and practicing steering their horses. Then they found themselves back in the stables cleaning their tack and longing desperately for a break. The older pages talked non-stop the whole time that they were cleaning, but the first years were completely exhausted from running around all morning and kept silent. Lord Padraig quickly inspected the pages work, telling them that he would not do so every day and that it was their responsibility to make sure that their tack was clean before they left, and then he dismissed them. "Nice work today. Go clean up and don't be late for lunch." with that, he left the stables and the pages.

"Come on Kari. I'll show where the ladies bath houses are. I'm guessing that's the one place Jon didn't show you yesterday," Lillia told the younger girl.

Jon blushed. "I... um... you know I can't go in there!"

"Mithros Jon, I was just joking. Did I wound His Majesty's pride?" They all burst into laughter as they headed up the hill towards the palace, warm baths and lunch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kel? Is that you?"

"Yeah, its me. Try not to move to much," Kel told Merric. He lay on a cot within a tent that had been erected for him right beside the healers tent. He needed the healers attention, but he also needed privacy. Merric reached a hand up to Kel. She took it and sat down on the stool next to his cot. She just looked at the poor man who lay staring at the ceiling. It was two days after the accident, and he could now go home (it took place the day page training started) and his eyes were open, but he couldn't see a thing. The world was completely black to him.

"I messed up Kel. I messed up big time and now I can't..." tears were streaming from his eyes. Kel squeezed his hand for reassurance. "I can't see my wife or my daughter again."

"Hush, come on. Don't talk like that. The healer said that there's still a chance," his friend told him softly.

Merric just shook his head. "Only Duke Baird would have had the power, and he's in Scanra with some of our troops for the next three years." Merric smiled as he remembered something from his past, "If only Neal was here. He... he could heal me. He's done it before. Do you remember the first time he saved my life..."

"How could I forget," Kel told him. "We were pages. Bandits attacked. We were lucky to have escaped."

"We weren't lucky," Faleron told her, entering the tent with Owen right behind him. "We got out of that one because of you."

"I just gave the orders, you guys fought the bandits. And if you hadn't blown that horn...." 

"Enough! Why are we fighting about the past. What's done is done. We lived, so lets just end it. At least we're still here to talk about it," Owen said.

"I still wish he was here," Merric said, tears filling is eyes as he thought about his daughter Lillia, who he would never see again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The pages and squires mess hall was the loudest place in the entire palace at lunch time. After Lord Padraig had said the prayer to Mithros, all the children had sank into noisy conversations over their food. Kari, Orion, Jon, Raoul, Asten and Lillia all sat a table in the very back of the mess hall where they couldn't be noticed.

"So did you two enjoy your first day of practice?" Raoul asked them.

"Was it as easy as you thought it would be?" Jon added.

"You two are plain evil, you know that!" Orion told them and Kari nodded.

"What do we have to do after lunch?" Kari asked the older pages.

"Classes. We have Mathematics, Reading and Writing, History, and Etiquette." Asten told her.

"Then Dinner, any punishment work you might have," Lillia added giving Kari a look, "and then extra assignments from our teachers."

"Followed by bed," Jon continued.

"And then, Lucky us! We get to do it all over again the next day," Raoul said, finishing the list of their work.

"What about free time?" Orion asked his sponsor.

"Free time? That's a joke." Raoul said and burst into a fit of laughter.

"Listen Orion; Any work you get from your teachers tonight, you won't finish, and then tomorrow your teachers will give you punishment work as well as more extra work to complete tomorrow night. And you probably will wind up having punishment work from Lord Padraig at some point, so it all just keeps building up." Lillia explained in her "I'm older; I know all" voice.

"And thus begins the vicious cycle of the Glorious Life of the Tortallan Page!" Raoul added having overcome his laughing fit. Unfortunately this comment sent him back to laughing his head off, while the rest of the group decided that he might need to see a healer by the end of the day. 

Suddenly a messenger, followed by a woman with dark brown curls and dark eyes, rushed into the mess hall and straight up to Lord Padraig's dais. The training master listened attentively to the young man and then dismissed him. While the two were talking, the mess had gone quiet. Messages in the middle of the day were never good. Lord Padraig stood up to ask for silence, and noticed that it had already come. The pages and squires in the mess hall were watching him and the woman with great interest. The woman had thin shoulders, a soft mouth, and a chin that implied her stubbornness. The pages knew from the expression on her face that something was horribly wrong.

"Pages! Squires!," Lord Padraig began. "Mistress Salmalin has important news that you must all hear and pay very close attention to. This information may help you out of a life or death situation." Lord Padraig stepped back and allowed the woman to step closer to the children.

Daine Salmalin, the wild mage, looked into the eyes of the kingdoms young protectors. She hoped they would be prepared for what they would have to face when the were knights. "A new breed of immortal has been appearing in the forests, deserts, mountains, and plains of Tortall. They have entered every imaginable place possible. These immortals are known as Odocoil. They are carnivorous deer that walk on two legs. The Odocoil don't use weapons, but their claws are as deadly as any human-made sword. Only the males will fight, except in extreme cases, such as all the males being killed. They have an acid-like saliva, that is more deadly than their claws and teeth and they do not hesitate to use it. It burns whatever comes in contact with it with amazing speed. What makes these immortals entirely dangerous and different from the rest is that they eat one thing and one thing only- Human." When Daine reached that point in her speech as wave of gasps spread through the mess hall. "Yes, human is all that these creatures can and will eat. They can go years without feeding, but will happily risk their lives for the chance to feast upon human flesh. Listen to me carefully. Currently a large number of the Odocoil have been spotted in the Royal Forest. They are not difficult to defeat as long as the warrior avoids the saliva. You are not, I repeat not, to leave the palace grounds in groups smaller than five. That order comes straight from the king himself. The Odocoil in the forest have been attacking the towns and villages in the forest, and a great number of children have disappeared. It seems that, while the Odocoil will eat any human, they prefer to go after young children. Have any of you encountered the Odocoil yet?"

Kari, Orion and a number of other pages stood up. Most of the squires in the mess hall stood also.

"Good. You can describe them in more detail to your friends. You all need to have as much knowledge about the Odocoil as possible. I must tell you one last thing. A major battle between a force of about one hundred Odocoil- males, females, and children-, and Third Company of the Kings Own and the seventh rider group has taken place in the north. Third Company lost two men, and Seventh group lost three. All five casualties occurred before aid arrived from fiefs Jesslaw, King's Reach, and Hollyrose. The four Knights involved in the battle were Lady Knight Keladry or Mindelan, no serious injuries; Sir Owen of Jesslaw, no serious injuries; Sir Faleron of King's Reach, no serious injuries; and Sir Merric of Hollyrose, who has severe burns on his face and is currently 100% blind. He was struck by acid-saliva as his enemy, the leader of the Odocoil was killed."

Daine finished her speech, she nodded to the children and bowed to Lord Padraig and then left the room. All the pages and squires resumed their conversations, which had now switched over to talk of the Odocoil. Kari, Orion, Jon, Raoul, and Asten all turned to Lillia who just sat, mouth open, staring into space. 

"Lillia? Lillia it'll be ok. They'll find a healer. At least he lived." Asten told her, placing an arm around her shoulders. When he had heard his own father's name called he nearly fainted, until he heard he was all right. So did Orion. 

Tears rolled down her cheeks. Lillia raised her arm and wiped them away with her sleeve. "I'm fine," she told her friends as they all stood up and prepared to go to their lessons for that day. "Really. He's alive. I couldn't ask for more." The others looked at each other unsure of what to say. For now, it seems like their friend was fine, and they would just have to live with that. 

They passed Lord Padraig on their way back to the pages wing. He nodded to Asten and Orion, and then gave Lillia a pat on the shoulder. He obviously knew that she was hurt, but also knew that talking about it would make Lillia feel worse. The page knew her father as a knight, took risks, and so she was able to deal with what ever happened. 

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Ok people. That's it for chapter 7. Hope you enjoyed it. I know it was short, but chapter 6 was really long. Be glad I got the chapter up so quickly. Nothing really important happens for a while in Kari's life, so Chapter 8 is going to jump ahead a little bit and start in the Midwinter of her first year as a page, so about 3-3.5 months after this chapter. And now my readers, I leave you with one final note: review or the Odocoil will change their eating habits from little children to readers who refuse to review. I'm their master, I can make them do that (author's eyes glow red, as silver claws tap the computer keys)

~ Shadowkitten2 ^-^ happy reading.

P.S.- thanks to Anasha. In a way, you helped me come up with the name for the immortals. Thank you! This chapter is dedicated to you.


	8. Will Paths Cross?

Hey everyone I'm back with another chapter. Sorry, I'm kind of all actioned out for the time being. Ha, just kidding; although there isn't as much action in this chapter as there has been in the past, I'm sure you'll like it. So sit back in you seats and enjoy the chapter. Oh and the Odocoil wanted me to tell you to review!!!

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The weeks before Midwinter passed quickly at the palace. Kari found that no matter how hard she tried, she always had more work to do than she could handle. But like every other page, she took the punishment silently and did her best to complete everything.

There days before Midwinter started, Kari found herself gazing at the almost full paper on her desk while she was supposed to be writing an essay on why pages should not be fighting one another. She had an ice pack by her side. The only day all week that the pages were given as a free day and she had to have been caught fighting with Shale. Kari's thoughts wondered back to that morning. 

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Kari walked down the hall on her way to her room by herself that morning. She was meeting her friends on the practice courts to work on archery, but she had left her bow in her room. Kari turned the corner onto the pages wing and nearly bumped into Shale. 

"Watch where you're going, you worthless piece of trash!" Shale told her, brushing the wrinkles out of the tunic she was wearing. "Honestly, you call yourself a noble!" 

"Excuse me," Kari said politely, trying to ignore her year mates comment. 

"No, I won't excuse you! For all I know, you could be a worthless commoner. After all, none of the pages I've asked have every heard of your fief before."

"At least I have manners," Kari retorted, getting sick of listening to Shale's voice. She tried to move to the side and walk past the page, but the girl wouldn't let her through. 

"Where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you, swine. Oh, that's go to be it. You aren't a noble or a commoner. You're the daughter of a hog and a sow. Either that or your mother slept with a Stormwing!" Shale told her, laughing at her own comment.

Kari had had enough. Her mother and father weren't there to defend themselves, and a real knight would demand satisfaction for the insult to her family. Kari wished more than anything that she had a glove to slap Shale with and challenge her to a duel, but right then she didn't. Thus her naked fist would have to do. 

Before Shale knew what was happening, Kari had broken her nose with one well placed punch. Shale lashed out in a series of kicks, some which Kari couldn't block. After being knocked to the ground to a position where she lay on her back, Kari's yamani training took over and she lifted her legs, slamming them into Shale's stomach as the girl approached her. Shale managed to land a fist on Kari's left eye right before she went flying into the wall. The servants who were in some of the page's rooms heard the fight and broke it up, but not before both girls had done considerable damage to one another.

Brought in front of Lord Padraig, both girls used the tradition excuse: "I fell down, sir." They were both to write essays for Lord Padraig as well as report to the smiths for one bell for the next week. Shale was sent to the healers because she had a broken nose and arm. Kari returned to her room, smiling to herself. She had won! Maybe Shale would think twice about insulting her family again.

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Suddenly a loud thud on her closed shutters woke her from her thoughts. She opened them in time to be hit square in the face by another snowball.

"Sorry about that," came a familiar voice from below her second floor window. Kari looked through her one good eye down to see her friends smiling up at her. Jon held a snow ball in one hand, obviously he was the culprit that had hit her in the face.

"Hey, Lion's Crest, you almost done? We need you to make our teams even," Lillia called up. She was smiling broadly for one of the first times since her dad had been injured. 

"I don't know if I should! I'm almost done though, but maybe I should stay in today." It wasn't even noon, so she did have the whole day to enjoy herself before punishment work that night.

"Lord Padraig isn't going to lessen your punishment just because you punish yourself, little first year. You should know that by now," Raoul said taking the snow ball from the prince and heaving it up at her window. He purposely missed, hitting the wall just below her. 

"As your sponcer, and the prince, I command you, Karian of Lion's Crest, to finish that paper and get yourself down here."

"Allright. Fine. I'll be down in ten minutes." She smiled, and closed the shutters shaking her head. Her friends would never let her stay down for long. Kari glanced at the parchment that lay on her desk, and grinned. Scanning what she had already written, she added a few more sentences, grabbed the paper and rushed to Lord Padraig's office. 

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Kel gazed into the distance, trying to spot the Odocoil that Third company was pursuing. Merric was at the palace with his wife for the Midwinter festival. Prince Roald had wanted Kel and Dom to come, but she wanted to avoid King Jonathan as much as possible; she still blamed him for her probation as a page and for Neal's death. Faleron had also returned to the palace, but Owen choose to travel with Kel and Third Company. She suspected that Roald had asked him to because normally Owen spent the holidays with Milly and the triplets. 

The scout Kel had sent out returned to her breathing hard. She gave him her water flask and waited for him to speak. 

"My lady.... The 20 Odocoil youth's have taken the four teens due North. If we keep going at this pace, we'll be able to engage them in battle at the Queenscove graves!" the scout blurted as soon as he could breath. He wanted to be far far away from his commander right then. All the men knew how she would react.

"Damn them!," Kel shouted, getting the attention of a majority of the Own, "Of all the Mithros blessed Places to have a battle. Get me Sir Owen, Sergeant Domitan and... any other sergeants available, NOW!!" 

Moments later, Kel was surrounded by the men she had called for.

"Kel, there is nothing we can do about it," Dom told her.

"If we increase the speed, the men and horses will be exhausted and then we might have to add more graves to the site," Owen remarked, resting his hand on her shoulder.

"Then you think we should keep going at our current pace? You think we should defile the land?"

"Kel, we know how you feel, but..." Dom started to tell he, sounding much like her mentor, Lord Raoul. 

"Sergeant Domitan is right, Commander. If we slow down now, some of the kidnapped girls might die!," said one of the other sergeants.

Another one spoke up, "Sir Nealan wouldn't mind as long as it wasn't a pointless fight. He didn't loose his life so that his friends could turn his beloved country over to the Odocoil." Everyone else nodded as Dom and Owen looked up at Kel to see her reaction.

"You're right. You're all right. Ok, lets go. We have people to save!"

An hour later, Third Company met the Odocoil in battle at the grave site. 

"Beware the saliva," Kel shouted before flying head on into the battle. 

Sounds of metal weapons clashing into silver claws and teeth filled the air. Horse's screeches distracted both the men and the immortals. Kel drowned out the screams of her own men as well as of the Odocoil as she focused on ending the battle quickly and clearing off the grave site.

Owen kept his promise to Roald, Cleon, Merric, and Faleron. He stayed near his friend through the battle. Twice his arrows killed Odocoil that came up behind her and attempted to kill the human leader. Owen and Kel's other friends knew that as long as she was a commander and in the center of battles, she would be in danger. But rather than telling her so, they kept watch over her secretly; the Lady knight hadn't fought as well as she once had since Neal had died. 

The battle raged for twenty minutes, and then it was over. Silvery red blood of the immortals mixed with their spilled Saliva and the blood of humans. 

A strange, almost magical noise filled the clearing. Kel reacted extremely quickly, reaching into her belt purse and pulling out her Griffin feather head band. Attaching it firmly above her eyes, she saw something she never would have believed if she hadn't seen it. Three colored lights played ontop of the graves. It was the first time Kel had been to Neal's grave with the head band on. The reddish silver magic of the Odocoil slammed against the ground, plowing through layer and layer of dirt to get to the graves. Strange sadistic laughter filled the air, and a errie voice rang out "LIES!!! LIARS!!!!" The three coffins rose in the air, surrounded by the Odocoil's magic. Black magic with silver streaks, played around it all, almost as if it were trying to protect the coffins. Kel stared, mouth open wide as the coffins opened. She saw three bodies that seemed to be made of the black and silver magic. A flicker of green magic was situated right where their hearts should have been. Kel recognized two of the bodies as being Neal and Yuki, she guessed that the tiny one was their daughter. The voice returned "NOT DEAD!!!" and the three magic made bodies faded. The coffins crashed to the ground as all three magic's disappeared and everything returned to normal. 

"Did you hear that??" Kel asked Dom and Owen who were standing beside her. The other men had backed up the minute the coffins rose in the air, and now were watching in fear with the mounts. Both men shook their heads.

"All I saw was the coffin's rise, show they were empty and crash down to the ground." Dom told Kel.

"Maybe your head band let you hear it," Owen suggested. But Kel just shook her head.

"No, The head band let me see that the Odocoil did that and that there were magical creations of Neal and his family in the coffins. What I heard, they wanted me to hear."

"What did they say?" Dom asked, afraid because his wife was shaking. 

"They said that somebody lied. They said that someone wasn't dead," she gulp, fighting the tears that were flooding her eyes. Was this a good sign? Was Neal really alive? Or.. or was it an omen of chaos to come?

"Did they mean that Neal's alive somewhere? Could it really be?" Owen pleaded, hoping that what Kel had said wasn't a joke. She just nodded. Words could not describe what she was feeling at that moment. Ten years without Neal, believing he was dead and that she wouldn't see him until she crossed to the Realm of the dead. And now, to find out that she'd been lied to all these years, that she could have watched his daughter grow up with her son. That she could have been with her best friend, fighting beside him to protect the kingdom. 

"What now?," Dom asked her.

What now? What now? Now she would go to the palace. Now she would have a small talk with the king. Now she would find out exactly who had know about this. And now she would show them what a Lady Knight's temper could really look like.

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A bell rang throughout the castel telling the residents that it was now two hours after midnight. The great house fell silent. A lone man, tall and with long black hair, tossed and turned as he tried to stay asleep. Suddenly he shot up in bed, his eyes wide as he stared at the walls of the room, beads of sweat poured down his brow. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. He had just felt a surge of power enter his body, as if magic from an old spell had just been returned to him. Then he knew, as if some god had shined a light down on him and woke him up. He knew what had happened and he had to find the Lord of the Castle immediately.

Numair jumped out of his bed, his bare feet rubbing against the rug in the room. It wasn't cold, but he shivered in the darkness. Opening the door he ran down the hall way to Lord Aaron and Lady Reela's room. He raced his sweat soaked fist and pounded on the wooden door that separated him form the two inside the room. The inches of thickness of the door seemed like endless stretches of land and sea. He banged again, fearing that he hadn't woken the two up the first time. The seconds passed, feeling like hours to him. Numair knew that he had to talk to Aaron now, but he didn't really know everything that had happened. Finally the crystal doorknob turned and the wooden door creaked open. In the doorway, Lord Aaron stood rubbing his eyes.

"Numair? What time is it?"

"Never mind that," the mage told him. "Neal, we have a problem."

The noble just stood there. Numair had been living with him and his wife for a few months, but this was the first time he had called him Neal. Sir Nealan officially knew that something was wrong. He opened the door wider to allow the mage to enter the room. He lit some candles and went to wake his wife. 

"Yuki, Yuki, wake up. Something's wrong!," he whispered softly. 

His wife twisted her position and opened her eyes. "Aaron? What's... what's wrong?," she spotted the mage in the corner. "What happened? Is everything all right?"

Numair bowed his head and shook it slightly. "I'm afraid not Lady Yuki, we have a big problem. Please Neal, sit down and listen." Both men drew chairs over beside the bed where Yuki still sat. "The graves I created have been destroyed by a very powerful source. Some one is bound to discover them, if they haven't been discovered yet. My biggest fear, is who will be the one to find out that you aren't dead. As far as I know, King Lasten still holds a grudge against you and your family. If he was to discover that you are all alive, there could be a major war."

"Can't you just return to Tortall and rebuild the graves?" Yuki asked worried about the safety of her daughter who was currently alone in Tortall. 

"I wish that I could, Lady Yuki, but the magic that has destroyed my spell has taken root in that spot and will prevent any magic from being performed upon the site. I believe we have only one option. You must return to Tortall at once. Live there as Reela and Aaron for a while and I can pretend that I myself destroyed the graves in order to bring the three of you back to life. King Jonathan will have to deal with Lasten when the time comes."

"But Master Numair, we've all aged ten years. I mean it might not be as obvious in me and Yuki, but people will notice that a child who died as an infant is now ten years old. That's not something we can hide. And I absolutely refuse to ruin her dreams to protect myself."

"There is a spell. It's not used often and not many mages can use it without consequences. I am an exception. It is an aging spell. We'll claim I used it to allow you and your family to appear as if you had never died. Now get ready to leave. I'm going to contact King Jonathan and tell him what is going on.

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Kari walked along the corridors back to her room. Asten walked silently beside her. Their other friends were meeting in Raoul's room for a little after dinner studying and practice. Asten had been caught fighting with a third year in the library by Lord Thom that morning and he had been sentenced to work in the Smiths just like Kari. Kari opened her door and went in to grab leave a note for the servant asking her to give the letter on her desk to Lord Padraig. The midwinter festival started the next evening, so this was her last evening of work. She would return to it after the holiday. Asten scoffed his foot along the floor outside her door.

"This stinks!" he remarked casually. 

"Of course it does," Kari remarked smiling. "But it's the life we choose."

"No not our punishment work. I meant the holidays are coming and you and your family won't get to see each other."

"Oh," she said frowning slightly. "That's ok though, because I have my new family surrounding me." 

"You do?"

Kari nodded. "You, and Orion, Jon, Raoul, Lillia, Lady Alanna, Lady Alianne, Lord Thom, Baron George, Sergeant Domitan.."

Asten shook his head as she came out of her room and locked the door. "You really are something, you know that Karian!"

"I know!" she retorted, smiling slightly and skipping off down the hall towards the practice courts, challenging the older page to try to keep up. 

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Kel charged down the palace halls. After what happened at the grave site, she had left Third Company in the hands of one of her sergeant; her second in command was Dom and he insisted on going with her. They had reached the palace in record time, only because Kel had refused to stop unless it was necessary. Now she plowed down the hall towards King Jonathan's office, Owen and Dom desperately trying to slow her down as scared servants looked on.

"Dom, let me go," she commanded when her husband grabbed her arm and held her still.

"Kel, you can't just barge in there like this. It's not right."

"The king can't tell me what's right and what's not right. Not after he lied to me for ten years, about something as important to me as Neal."

"Kel, listen to Dom. This is the man that put you on probation for no reason. Would you really want to risk your station by upsetting him? Let me go in first. You and Dom follow. Please, as your friend and Neal's friend, I'm begging you."

Kel took a deep breath. "Fine Owen. I'll stay calm right now. But I'm not making any promises about what happens after we get in there." Owen nodded. He knew that was all he was going to get from her, and he could possibly demand more. Not when he himself wanted to tear King Jonathan limb from limb. 

The three nobles reached the kings office and Owen politely knocked on the door. His usual happy nature had disappeared and instead his eyes told a tale of a man who felt betrayed and hurt. There was a slight shuffling inside the office, and voices of the king and someone else. The door opened and Lady Alanna stepped aside to allow the two knights and the sergeant to enter. King Jonathan sat at his desk, his elbows propped up on the surface and his head resting on his palms. 

"You have visitor's Your Majesty," Alanna told him, with a formality she only used when she was infront of others whose relationship with the King was not so familiar as hers. Jonathan looked up and immediately regretted it. His blue eyes, dark from lack of sleep, met the three hard looks of his nobles.

"Sir Owen, Lady Knight Keladry, Lord Domitan," he said nodding to them. Please sit. The two men sat instantly, but Kel only sat when Alanna gave her the slightest of nods. The older lady knight had a pretty good idea of what Kel and her husband and friend were doing there. 

"Your Highness.." Kel began, trying to keep her temper from flaring up.

"Before you say anything that I believe you will regret, Lady Knight Keladry of Masbolle, Knight Commander of the King's Own, let me inform you that I am well aware of the diappearance of the Queenscove graves. I also have reason, upon seeing you three, to believe that you know that Sir Neal of Queenscove and his family are not and have never been dead. What I would like to be informed of is how you know and what happened." King Jonathan said, interrupting the speech that Kel had planned. The Knight sat there blinking like a stunned deer, and Alanna smiled slightly behind her. "When will that girl learn that Jon will never stop surprising her," Alanna thought to herself. Kel still speechless, turned to the two men, who told the story to the King. Once Kel had recovered she explained what had occurred for her as a result of the headband, and the Odocoil's speech. 

"King Jonathan, I have just one simple question for you. Why did you lie to me? To us? To his family and friends?" Kel demanded once they had finished their tale. 

"We felt that it would be safer for Nealan and his family if few people knew what had really become of him. We had his best interests in mind, Commander." King Jonathan retorted, upset by the tone in which the knight had spoken to him. 

"We?," Kel asked angrily. "Who else knew?" she retorted glaring at him, and jumping to her feet. How could the king say that it was in Neal's best intrests if he had told other's what had become of the knight. 

"Kel, I'm sorry! I should have told you. Neal wanted you to know. Honestly he did," Alanna said coming over and resting her hand on the younger knight's shoulder. Kel shrugged it off and glared at her. 

"You knew! You knew and you didn't tell me! I thought we were friends! I thought I could trust you!" Kel said. "I was wrong. I once idolized you, Lady Alanna," Kel said the knight's name as if it were acid, "but not anymore, and never again." Dom and Owen tugged on her arms, trying to get her to sit down, but she jerked out of their hold. The kingdom thought the Lioness had a temper; they hadn't seen Kel in a rage.

"Kel, you have every right to be angry with me," Alanna told her, but her admission of guilt seemed to have no affect on the Commander. Kel gave the smaller woman and icey glare which forced the older knight back into the corner of the room. Kel's attention shifted back towards the King.

"Where is he? What have you done with him? When can I see him," Kel demanded. King Jonathan knew she was upset and had every right to be, but he felt that she had no right to talk to him like that. Especially not when he had just received the news from Numair the night before and still had no idea what to do when Lasten found out. 

"No!," was his answer, despite the fact that it had nothing to do with any of her questions. The king was tempted to take Command of the Own away from her, but she was a good Commander and if Tortall found itself at war with Tyra, he would want her on his side. 

"No what?" Kel said, her temper flaring, her normal Yamani mask gone from her face. 

"I will not tell you anything in regards to Sir Nealan and his family as of right now," Jonathan said calmly, hoping that if he didn't get excited, Kel wouldn't. Now it was Owen and Dom's turn to join in.

"Your Magesty, please. He is my cousin. I deserve the right to know where he has been for the past ten years." 

"Sergeant Domitan, while I do not have the right to dismiss you from your service as an Own Soldier, I do have the right to order your commander to do so, so unless you wish to loose your position, I suggest you keep your comments on what is right and what is not to yourself." The king's eyes flared. 

"Your highness, if I may..."

"No Sir Owen, you may not. That is unless you wish for the right to become ex-Sir Owen of Jesslaw. Now listen to me carefully all three, make that four of you. Lady Knight Keladry of Masbolle, Sir Owen of Jesslaw, and Sergeant Domitan of Masbolle, are forbidden to speak of anything relating to Sir Nealan and his family to anyone. If I find out that you have, there will be major consequences, such as me stripping you all of your lands and titles. Futher more, Baroness Alanna of Pirate's Swoop, heiress of Olau, the Lioness and King Champion is forbidden to pass any information about Sir Nealan and his family onto anyone, ontop of her vows, from tens years prior to this meeting, that stated that she will not speak of Sir Nealan and his family to anyone. The same consequences apply to you, Lady Alanna. Now leave, all of you!" Jonathan said, pointing to the door. The four nobles glared. 

"I'll see you when you've come to your senses, Your highness," Alanna told him as she stampeded out of the office.

"Believe me, Baroness Alanna, I already have!," He called after her. The other three just rose and left the room, Kel slamming the office door behind her. 

"What now?" Dom asked his still furious wife. 

"I don't know about you two, but I'm staying for the holidays. There is a small chance I might learn something. Dom agreed to stay with her. It was also an opportunity to visit there son. Owen decided to go back to Jesslaw. He could make it back for the longest night of the festival if he left right away. Kel said good-bye to him, and headed toward Master Oakbridge's office. The old man wouldn't be to happy to know that he had to find room for two more nobles at all the dinners this late in the planning, but then again she remember that the palace master of ceremonies lived on chaos and panicking, so she would probably be giving the old man a few hundred years more to live. 

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Kari fidgeted as Jon helped to straighten her gold tunic. Kari and Orion had reported to Raoul's room like the older pages had told them. Both were extremely nervous about the start of the Midwinter festival, even though as first years, they wouldn't be serving. Their friends on the other hand would be. Raoul fixed Orion's crimson shirt one more time, and sent the boy into the wash room to get him his hair brush. Lillia showed them all a trick to keep their crimson hose from moving around on their legs. Once all six of them were positive that they looked fine, they headed down to the kitchen's. 

Master Oakbridge waited for the last of the pages to arrive before he reminded all the senior pages where they were stationed. Jonathan, who was supposed to wait on his parents and grandparents, as well as his aunts and uncles, was reassigned to a new table that had been added, since there were no other pages left, except the first years, to wait on tables. A palace servant would be waiting on the royal family in his place. 

The first years formed the line to hand off the courses to the senior pages, and the banquet hall filled with people. It was time to start.

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"Did Master Oakbridge tell you who would be sitting with us?" Dom asked Kel as they sat down at their table. Their were four empty seats at the table. Kel shock he head.

"No, he just panicked and ran around his office complaining about Knights who gave him trouble as pages and never change." He husband laughed thinking that Kel, Neal, and Owen must have been a very interesting mixture as pages for the master of ceremonies. Just then, Kel heard a familiar voice call out to her. 

"Kel! Dom! I didn't think you were coming to the palace," Lady Wilamina of Hollyrose told them as she lead her husband to the table.

"Hello Wila, Merric. How are you?," Dom asked. Kel just stared at her plate. No matter what anyone said, she still felt that it was her fault that Merric was blind. The other knight seemed to sense his friend's guilt. 

"Kel, it's not your fault. I'm just thankful to be alive. And I got to hear Lillia's voice. I never noticed how beautiful it was until I couldn't see he anymore. It's not the end of the world Kel."

"I wish I had your spirit Merric," Kel told him, patting the man on the shoulder as he and his wife took their seats at the table. 

"Is there anyone else dinning with us?" Merric asked his friends. 

"Yes. There are two empty chairs," Wila told him. "I don't believe I know who they are for though."

"Well, we'll find out soon enough," Dom told them. "Here come two people and they seem to be headed for our table." Merric and Dom stood up, prepared to greet the gentleman who was approaching them with his wife. 

"Dom held out his hand as soon as the man and woman reached the table. He nodded a greeting and then said "My name is Lord Domitan of Masbolle and this is my wife Lady Knight Keladry of Masbolle. I don't believe we've met before."

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Hehehehe, talk about cliffhangers, right? Sorry that this took so long for me to put up, but I had midterms and I really need to study. This was a fun chapter wasn't it? Oh the suspense, the irony, what could possibly happen next? To tell you all the truth, I really don't know. No I haven't hit writers block yet. Actually I've come up with two different paths that the story can take after this chapter, so guess what! You all get to help me choose. Here's what you do:

In your review, I'd like you to list between three and six of you favorite characters from Tamora Pierce's novels. Any character you want even if he/she has been a very minor character in the real novels. If you do choose a character like that, just remind me who they are. Simple right?

Here's what I'm gonna do: 

I'm going to tally your choices for favorite character and choose the route for the story that I can best incorporate your top three choices into. So yeah. I really need you help with this one. Get those brain cells moving and help me out, cause I don't just write for myself, I write this for all of you who read this. 

Now I'd like to say thank you to a few people who have reviewed continuously. Not only do I thank you, but I'm fairly certain that Kari would want to thank you too, if she was real. After all, she is based off of me when I was younger. So like I said, thank yous going out to SaNgUiNe SiStaR, treanz-alyce, and Lady Genevieve. Thanks you guys! Hope you enjoyed chapter 8 because it's dedicated to you!

Well that's it for now. Don't forget to help me out, I really need you all. Well got to go now. But just incase you forgot, the Odocoil don't like it if you don't review! TTFN!!

~Shadowkitten2

P.S.- I was too lazy to do spell check on this one!!!

P.P.S.- No really, I was!!! ^-^


	9. Parents

I know... I know... I'm late. I'm very very late. Please forgive me. I kind of got carried away with one of my other stories and well... considering I go to school with the characters and they have the power to command me to Update or they'll kill me... I sort of had no choice. But I finally convinced them to let me write this story (rambling.. I know). Also I've kind of been in a major slump lately. Not writers block.. just not in a good mood.. and well I didn't want this chapter to be depressing.. although with my luck it will be (rambling again). 

Thanks to all of you who remembered to tell me their favorite characters. I tallied your votes.. along with those I got from friends that read this but don't review, and I've come to a decision on which way to send the story. So I now present you with chapter 9. Enjoy.... and don't forget to review!

Oh... since I haven't updated in a while... here is what happened last time....

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"Is there anyone else dinning with us?" Merric asked his friends. 

"Yes. There are two empty chairs," Wila told him. "I don't believe I know who they are for though."

"Well, we'll find out soon enough," Dom told them. "Here come two people and they seem to be headed for our table." Merric and Dom stood up, prepared to greet the gentleman who was approaching them with his wife. 

Dom held out his hand as soon as the man and woman reached the table. He nodded a greeting and then said "My name is Lord Domitan of Masbolle and this is my wife Lady Knight Keladry of Masbolle. I don't believe we've met before."

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Now on to chapter 9 

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"I've don't believe I've ever had the pleasure of meeting you, Lord Domitan, but I have had the privilege of meeting your wife," The new comer told him politely. He nodded toward Merric, "I'm very sorry to hear about your accident Sir Merric."

"Oh, that's all right, but I don't believe I recognize your voice," Merric told him. Kel had come to stand right beside him. 

"I don't believe I know who you are either," Kel told him. "I'm sorry. What is your name?"

The new comer laughed. His gray eyes danced and his brown hair flopped around neatly. "I can't believe that after all the help you gave me my first year, you don't remember me Kel. I'm Warric of Mandash, Owen's cousin."

Kel's eyes widened when she heard his name. She remembered teaching him and Iden staff work when they were just first year pages. Merric recognized the name, since he had been Warric's sponser that year. 

"Warric... Mithros... how have you been," Merric asked, shaking the younger man's hand. 

"Fine, just fine," Warric replied. "This is my wife Anasha." Warric ushered a young woman forward. Kel shook hands with her, as did Merric. Then the two knights introduced their own spouses. The six of them sat down just as the banquet started. 

Jon came up to the table and offered them each the finger bowl. Like every other page he nodded greeting, and waited for the adults to address him first. 

"Nervous?" Warric asked the prince as he dipped his fingers in the bowl.

"Just a little, Sir." Jon answered.

"You should be," Warric replied, smiling. Anasha tapped him lightly on the arm.

"Warric, don't mess with the poor boy." she smiled at Jon as she dipped her fingers into the bowl. 

Jon gave Kel and Dom questioning looks when he presented them with the bowl. He was sure they hadn't planned on coming. 

"Don't be nervous, Jon. It'll all be over soon," Kel advised the prince. He smiled. 

"Should I tell Orion that you're here?" Jon asked them.

"Yes, of course. Tell him that we'd like to meet with him tomorrow morning on the practice courts." Dom told the boy. Jon nodded and finished passing the bowl around. He was greeted pleasantly by Merric and Wila, and then he ran off the get the first dish. The night passed by almost completely uneventful. 

Kel and Dom excused themselves from their table and went to join the other nobles in the ballroom where they were served by squires and the pages were allowed to go to dinner. 

* * *

  


"You mean that Lady Knight Keladry is really here?" Kari asked Jon and Orion for the fourth time that evening. Jon laughed. After spending half a year with Karian, they all knew that Orion's mother was her hero. 

"Kari, would you like to come with me when I go meet them tomorrow morning," Orion asked, knowing what the answer would be a yes. 

"I would... oh... I can't," Kari said, "I'm spending the whole day with Asten, Sir Faleron and Lady Tabitha."

Asten smiled at the fact that Kari would rather keep her promise and go meet his parents, rather than go meet her idol. 

"All right then," Orion said. "Maybe another time. I'll tell Mama that you want to meet her though."

"Thanks. What are you all doing tomorrow?" Kari asked Lillia, Jon, and Raoul.

Jon and Raoul were going hunting with Prince Roald and Prince Jasson (you know... Roald's brother) and Jon's seven year old cousin Teron. Lillia would be midwinter shopping with her mom and dad. They had only tomorrow and the day after to get ready for the longest night of the year. 

The pages walked back to their wing, exhausted, and said goodbye to one another. They would see each other in the morning.

* * *

  


Alanna shot King Jonathan a glare that could have cut through metal that evening at the ball. The king sat with a smug look on his face. He knew that it was Alanna that had asked Master Oakbridge to place Lord Aaron and Lady Reela at the same table as Kel and Dom. Luckily for him he had gone by to check the seating arrangement and instead had the Lord Aaron and his wife seated on a completely opposite end of the hall. Alanna knew that he had ruined her plan, but she had plenty more. The only problem now was to get Kel to start speaking to her again. The knight was lost in her thoughts, that she didn't even realize that the woman she was thinking about was standing right in front of her. 

"Alanna??"

"Oh.. Kel.."

"I'm sorry," Both women said at the same time. They laughed.

"Truce then," Kel asked the woman that had for so long been her hero.

"Truce... after all we need to stick together." Alanna narrowed her eyes across the hall, she seemed to be focusing on a particular woman. "You know I'm not allowed to say anything right?"

"Right?"

"But, if your looking for answers, you might try that woman over there." Alanna smiled at Kel. The king was watching, and Kel noticed, although he couldn't hear what they were saying. Kel glared at the knight.

"I'm sorry Alanna," she said quietly and then slapped the woman across the face. At first Alanna was startled, but then she noticed Jonathan turn away quickly. 

"I understand, now go!" Alanna said, and she stamped away angrily. Kel pushed her way through the crowd in the opposite direction. 

Jonathan smile to himself. As long as the two woman were fighting, he really didn't have to worry about the passage of information between them. 

* * *

  


"What happened?" Dom asked when his wife returned. "I thought you were going to apologize." They were standing by a table that had a plate of cookies on it.

"I did!"

"And what happened?" He said handing her a glass.

"She told me that if I want answers I should ask the woman over there," Kel jerked her head in the direction of a woman with brownish red hair and bight blue eyes. 

"So you slapped her?" Dom asked, still amazed at his wife's conduct.

"His Majesty was watching!"

"Oh... well then... perhaps we should go and introduce ourselves."

"No kidding... but it wouldn't be a good idea to talk to her in the open... I need to draw her over to the sides where the king can't see." Kel reached a hand towards the tray to grab one, and her hand collided with someone elses. Kel turned and smiled at the man with brown eyes and blond hair. "I'm sorry... go ahead. You take it," she told him. The man just stood there. His eyes were wide open as he stared. Luckily he remembered a little etiquette and his mouth stayed shut.

"Excuse me Sir. It is rude to stare at a lady. Especially if the Lady happens to be married," Dom snapped at him. The man shook his head as if he were being released from a trance.

"I apologize. I was just surprised to meet the Knight that I have heard so much about. Please accept my apologies. I am Lord Aaron of Lion's Crest."

* * *

  


Great place for an ending, don't you think? I think so... the more cliffies the better right... and such a big one too... Nah.... I'm feeling especially nice today... keep going!

* * *

  


"Oh... so you're Karian's father. I beg you pardon sir, but you look nothing like her," Dom told Lord Aaron. 

"She doesn't look like her mother either," he replied. "But tell me, how do you know my daughter?" 

"She and my son Orion are friends. They helped defeat a group of Odocoil this summer. Didn't she tell you?" Kel asked.

"Kari did write that she had a friend named Orion, but she never told me that he was the son of Lady Keladry and Lord Domitan." Lord Aaron told them. Just then the woman that they had speaking of earlier walked over, she nudged her husband slightly, without looking up from the ground. Aaron just smiled and addressed the knight and her husband. "This is my wife, Reela." 

Kel extended her arm to her as did Dom. The lady shock their hands but barely looked at them. "Nice to meet you Lady Keladry, Lord Domitan," she said in a quiet voice after they introduced themselves. "Um... Aaron... I need to speak to you, alone if you don't mind." 

"Of course not. If you'll excuse us. It was a pleasure meeting you. My daughter says you are her hero, Ke... Lady Keladry." Lord Aaron bowed and walked away with his wife on his arm.

"You're supposed to get answers from _her_?" Dom asked his wife.

"Yeah," Kel replied, not fully listening to her husband. "What?"

"I said, you'd be better off trying to get answers from her husband."

"That's not a bad idea. Come on. Lets turn in. We have to meet Orion tomorrow morning."

Kel and Dom walked toward the exit of the ball room. A fourth year squire stood off on the side surrounded by a group of young men. They were all trying desperately to gain the young woman's attention. The squire caught sight of the Knight Commander and immediately remembered what she was supposed to do. Stepping out of the crowd, she approached the knight. 

"Lady Keladry?"

"Yes?" Kel asked, coming to a stop in front of the girl.

"My name is Katrina, I'm Sir Esmond's squire."

"Oh yes... Katrina... I remember. Does Esmond need me for something?"

The squire nodded. "He asked me to give you this." Katrina handed a letter to the Commander. In it, Esmond asked if he could possibly meet Kel sometime the next day before the banquet. Kel told Katrina to have Esmond meet her outside the royal library at the fourth bell of the afternoon. The squire nodded and bowed, and went off to do as she was told. Kel and Dom left the ball room and headed to their own chambers.

* * *

  


Kari woke up early the next morning. She was really excited about going to spend the day with Asten and his family. The servant arrived at the same time she usually did, despite the celebratin the night before, and Kari was ready by the time that Asten came to get her. A knock echoed on her door, and the page ran to answer it.

"Good Morning Asten," she said cheerfully, walking out of the room, shutting the door and locking it with her key.

Asten looked at his younger friend. "You are really cheerful this morning, aren't you?"

"Yes I am," she replied, smiling. Asten laughed and they started to walk down the halls to the stables to get their horses. Willow and Magespirit nuzzled their owners when they realized that they were being taken on a ride instead of page training. The two pages led their mounts to the visitors stable where they were meeting Sir Faleron and Lady Tabitha. 

"This is Yorin... my dad's stallion," Asten told her, pointing to a magnificent looking war horse. "And these are Castillo and Tera, my parents riding horses." 

Kari stroked each of their noses, and then pet Magespirit who was getting a little jealous. The pages sat down against the horse's stalls to wait for Asten's mom and dad. Suddenly, the door to opened and a man and woman entered. Asten peered around the corner of the stalls so that he could see who they were.

"Your parents?" Kari whispered to her friend. The boy shook his head.

"They're nobles, I can tell by their cloths, but I've never seen them in court before." The pages fell silent when the woman and man began to speak.

"You shouldn't have done that last night dear," the woman said.

"I know," her husband, obviously, replied.

"She might have caught on. After all, you did almost slip up."

"I missed her so much... I couldn't help it."

Kari had heard enough. Her eyes widened and a big smiled appeared on her face. Instantly the girl jumped to her feet and ran out from behind the stalls toward the nobles.

"Mama... Papa..." Kari laughed as she ran, tears in her eyes. It had been about six months since she last saw them. Lord Aaron turned first towards the voice of his daughter, laughter in his eyes. Lady Reela smiled. They held their arms out to the girl, who ran straight into them and was given the biggest hug of her life. Asten had stepped out from behind the stall, curious to see what his friends parents, the ones that had sent her to Tortall alone, looked like. He blamed them for Kari's periods of extraordinary loneliness. With his eyes slightly cold, he approached the three some. "I've missed you so much. Why didn't you write me that you were coming?"

"It was sudden. We didn't know ourselves. Our belongings are being taken straight to Lion's Crest, but we decided to stop in Corus." Her mother explained.

"You mean... we're moving back to Tortall? Permanently?" Kari asked with excitement

"For the time being," Aaron told his daughter, kissing her lightly on the head.

"When did you come?"

"We arrived late yesterday afternoon. We would have looked for you, but we knew that the pages had to serve at the banquet. We were waited on by a young man by the name of Raoul of Goldenlake. Is he a friend of yours?"

"Oh yes. What are you doing now?"

"Going for a ride? Would you like to come?" Reela asked sweetly, just noticing the boy who stood watching them.

"I have plans Mama," Kari explained. She turned to Asten. "This is my friend Asten of King's Reach. His parents invited me to join them for the day. Perhaps you could come with us?" Kari asked, more to Asten then her parents. The older boy nodded and Aaron and his wife accepted, as long as it was ok with the Lord and Lady of King's Reach. 

"How do you do, Asten," Aaron said, extending his hand to the page. The boy shook his hand, and entered conversation with the man. Maybe the noble wasn't as mean as the boy had thought. Kari and her mother talked about Kari's training with Lord Thom in the uses of her magic, as well as her actual training with Lord Padraig and the other pages. The stable doors opened again, letting in a little of the cold winter air. Asten introduced Kari to his mother and father first, and then they introduced the adults to one another.

"I was under the impression that Kari's parents weren't coming for the holidays?" Lady Tabitha asked.

"The king asked us to return immediately, I'm not sure why." Reela told her politely.

"Well you're welcome to join us. I feel as if I have know you for a while, Lord Aaron," Sir Faleron told him. He shook hands with the nobleman, who just laughed in response. They all saddled their mounts and rode out of the stable. Asten, happy to be in the company of the girl he secretly had a crush on; Faleron, content to be with his family and new friends during the holidays; Tabitha, enjoying having other women around; Kari, over joied to be with her parents once again; Aaron, thinking about seeing all his old friends once more; and Reela, worried that something might go horribly wrong.

* * *

  


I know *dies because the readers are mad at her for not updating sooner*. I apologize for making you all wait so long, especially after a cliff hanger like that. I'll try to be more prompt in the future. Oh, by the way... just so you all know... I'm going to be going off to college next fall (for those of u that don't know what that means- I'm going to a University level school). I'll probably have less time to write... but I'm going to keep my storied going (at least thats my plan) so please understand if updates occur less frequent than they are now. Anyway...

Chapter 10 is going to jump again to the spring/summer (haven't decided yet) of this year. Nothing big enough to have a section in the story will occur.. so I'll give you all a fast rundown of what has happened when I post it. So yeah... the story is entering the main plot now and things are going to start moving pretty fast.

One more bit... I apologize if there is any confusion. Depending on who is involved in different scenes, Neal and Yuki will be referred to as Lord Aaron and Lady Reela. That is... when old friends or people they just meet are present, they will be called Aaron and Reela. When alone with the people who know their real identities, they will be called Neal and Yuki! Understand? Good. Just know that the names are interchangeable.

Well thats all this humble author has for you today. TTFN

~Shadowkitten2

P.S.- Although the Odocoil didn't have a part in this chapter (they are very angry with me for that) they still want you to review. So don't make them madder... go click the little button that says "Submit Review" ^-^


	10. Impending Troubles

A/N: Four months. God that's a long time to wait for an update. I truly apologize to any and all readers who have followed this story through it's entirety and have been loyal to it and who are still willing to read it even though there has been such a long break in the writing.

Now, I'm not going to ramble, it isn't fair to all of you. So, now, I happily present to you, Chapter 10 of Karian of ?. I hope you all enjoy.

* * *

Karian yawned as the pale dawn light cast into her room. Midwinter had been about three weeks before, and although the weather was warming up, Kari still shivered in her room. She stepped out of her bed, her bare feet rubbing against the carpeting in the room, ready to start another day in the glorious life of a page. She hesitated for a moment, wanting to linger a bit longer in the comfort of her chambers. Finally she strode to the far end of the bedroom and opened the shutters. Jumping as a crack of thunder caused the entire wing to vibrate, she slammed the shutters closed once again.

"What the heck was that?" she question. The ferocity of the storm around her made her worry. She shrugged her shoulders, and went to get dressed. They would probably only be having classes and training inside that day, but she really didn't mind. The idea suited her sore body very well.

Kari emerged from her room when the bell called all of the pages to the mess hall for breakfast. She noticed that much of the talk around her was about the storm outside. Still shrugging it off, Karian made her way through the line, gathering her food, and sitting down at her table beside Lillia.

"Some storm we're having?" Asten asked her as soon as she had sat down. Kari nodded, noticing how green Lillia had gone. With her father unable to function as a knight, there fief was relaying on the crops and the fear of flood made them all a bit sick.

"I'm sure it will end soon," Jon told them. Unlike the others, the prince didn't really have to worry about the crops, although it would be a very bad thing if he found himself the ruler of a economically wounded nation.

"Yeah," Kari told her friends, looking from Orion, to Asten, Lillia, Jon and Raoul. "So did you get that math problem, Orion?"

* * *

A week later, Kari found herself inside the indoor practice court, her arrows finally flying straight to targets. Lord Padriage looked very worn and haggard. As did many of the other adults around the young pages. Kari guessed it had something to do with the rain, but she didn't want to say as much.

The next day, the storm finally ended and the pages could once again return to their studies. Kari and the other first years were to be lead on a wilderness ride into the forest by one of their teachers. Karian arrived early at the stables and immediately began to saddle Magespirit. Shale, Leon and Orion entered a bit later than her, each moving toward their own mounts.

"Hey, Name less!" Shale called to Kari, using her own personal nickname for the girl. "Best be careful on the ride, wouldn't want you to get lost."

"Gee thanks," Karian said, rolling her eyes.

"It would be impossible for us to tell your parents, considering none of us speak swine!" the page finished.

Kari turned red but hid her anger, as Lord Tiltron, their riding instructor, entered the stables.

"My my. It's a bit early for insults Miss Shale. But I have no quarrels about giving you a punishment. Please write me a full two on why we should respect those around us. Now, mount up. All of you. We have a long ride ahead.

* * *

About three hours later, Kari and Orion found themselves with the task of catching fish for the small group's lunch. They both held fishing rods as they sat beside a swiftly moving creek.

"Kari?"

"Yeah?"

"Nothing." Orion told her. He had heard something but the noise had ceased only moments after it begun. The boy took a deep breath and settled back against the tree. They had already caught three fish, one more couldn't hurt.

Kari watched him, before turning her eyes back to the creek. Behind her, she heard a twig snap. Wondering what it was, she looked around. No one was there except her and Orion. She looked at him questioning but the boy shook his head.

They listened again.

"Orion?"

"What?"

"Do you hear that?" the girl asked. She was worried, something wasn't right.

"I don't hear anything." Orion said, confused at first. And then he realized it. Something was definitely off when all of the sounds of the forest vanished without a trace. Where were the animals, the birds? Why had it suddenly gone so quite? "Something's seriously wrong Kari," he remarked. She nodded, jumping up. Both pages grabbed their swords as the sound of a horn call came from the pages camp. Shale, Leon, and Lord Tiltron were there alone. Kari and Orion crept back quickly and peered through the bushes at the campsite. The horses had been released, and all had escaped. The two pages and their teacher rested in the higher limbs of the trees, each firing at the immortals below with their crossbows. Kari and

Orion stood eyes wide as they watched the Odocoil attack the tree trunks, trying to get at the human flesh that rested just beyond their reach. Six of them, each as ugly and large as the others that Kari had met, refused to give up. More lay beyond there reach of the arrows. Leon raised the horn all his lips once again, blowing with his strength. Orion and Kari knew that it was hopeless. There was no one close enough to hear the horn call. The threesomes, only hope was the two pages who were supposed to be off fishing.

"What do we do?" Orion pleaded with his friend. They needed a plan and they needed it before the Odocoil made a snack out of the two pages and their teacher up in the tree. Shale, Leon, and Lord Tiltron were running out of arrows.

"I don't know. But if we stay here, they'll catch our scent." Kari said, nervously. "We're down wind."

Orion nodded and the two crept away from the Odocoil back to the creek. Suddenly, movement caught the young girl's eye. Magespirit had not fled to the safety of the palace. She had gone in search of her master. Kari was thankful. She smiled, remembering the village they had passed. It was just out of reach of the horn call, but on horse back, Kari could reach it swiftly.

"Orion! Stay here and try to think of a way to lure the beasts away from them. I'll be right back! I'm going to get help." She said as Magespirit galloped Kari's side. She swung herself into the saddle and kicked the mare back into her gallop. Orion watched her speed off, bewildered. Then he remember what she had said and quickly got to work making it appear as if another group of humans was close by.

* * *

Kari rode full speed through the forest. She could see the village in the distance. She was almost there. She could get help. Suddenly a hissing sounded through the air around her. A young female Odocoil leaped through the air, knocking her from the saddle. The immortal wasn't much past it's adolescence; in fact it was probably around Kari's age. Magespirit reared and sped off towards the town.

Karian grabbed her sword as the Odocoil sprung toward her, lashing at her with her claws. The page felt the metal slice though her arm and then another through her leg. The immortal was fast, Kari couldn't seem to hold in her eyesight long enough to hit it with her weapon. She fell backwards as one of the immortals claws sliced her sc alp, she could feel it's weight knowing her scalp was probably only hanging one by a bit of skin. She landed with a thump on the ground, the immortal baring down on her, a triumphant smile on it's lips. It glared at Kari, as it brought it's silver claw down towards her heart.

This was it, Kari knew the end when it was staring her in the face. She watched and listened, waiting for the sound of metal cutting through flesh. A strange voice flooded through her ears.

All of Queenscove must Die!

And then a sudden burst of black light cut through the immortal. The creature vanished. Kari submitted, her body shaking. She could feel the black god coming towards her as the blood pooled around her body. She just barely saw a tall man move into her eyesight as her eyes closed.

"In the clearing… more of them… attacking friends…" she managed to say before she passed out, blood and life fleeing her body. She barely heard the man start to shout instructions.

* * *

Three days later Kari awoke in the infirmary at the palace. Alanna was there as well as her parents, Orion's parents, and Numair. Orion and her friends had classes, but during all their free time they had stopped by.

"What… what happened?" Kari whispered, her voice horse. She remembered her attack, and some how she realized she wasn't dead. Lady Reela grabbed hold of her daughter, clutching her tight, obviously thankful that the girl had finally awoken.

"You saved the day Karian," Numair told her. "The villagers and I were able to get to your friends in time."

"Kari, Dom and I are truly thankful. If you had been a little slower, they might have hurt Orion worse than they did." Kel said.

"What? How? He's hurt?" Kari sputtered.

"He's alright Kari. I healed his leg wound. He'll tell you all about his brave heroics later." Alanna told the page. "And you still need rest." Karian nodded., and began to close her eyes. Kel, Dom, and Numair left the room. Alanna, stayed inside with Neal and Yuki.

Placing a hand on Neal's shoulder, believing Kari to be asleep, Alanna spoke, "Neal? Are you alright?"

"No. I should have been the one to heal her."

"You can't. You aren't supposed to use big magic." That was her mother's voice. Kari wanted to hear more, but she couldn't stay awake. She drifted into a land of silent darkness. Dreaming about the Odocoil and what it had said right before it died: "All of Queenscove must die." and the confusion caused by the conversation she had heard.

* * *

A week later, Kari sat in Lord Thom's study. Her classes in mage craft had been progressive since she started training at the palace. She looked out the window. It was raining again. Her wounds were only partially healed, but she refused to let the healers keep her in bed. All of her friends had come to visit day after day, and while she couldn't participate in the regular training, she could attend her classes and put in extra time with Master Thom.

Kari watched the water as it poured down in front of her. It felt very odd. Something told her the rain was not caused my Mithros and the other gods in their pantheon. Instead, the young mage had a deep gut feeling that the storm was mage sent.

"Lord Thom?" she said, letting her eyes wander to where her teacher and Lady Alanna's son, sat working on a experiment of his own. The vile of water he held shook when he heard his name.

"Yes Karian?" the Mage asked her, his violet gift shining in the clear liquid.

"Does the rain seem odd to you? I mean it feels heavy. Like it's tainted or something. I don't know. I just don't think it's natural." She looked at him, her green eyes piercing him, searching for the answer's she required.

Thom sighed and raised his hand to his face. He took a deep breath and wiped his face with hand, brushing his red hair back with the other. "You're very perceptive Karian. I'll give you that. And to think you came from a family that isn't very well known, least not for having the gift. But you are right. The storm and the one we had just a few weeks ago are not natural; they were sent by mages."

Karian looked worried. "Do we know who sent them sir. And why?"

"We do, Karian," Thom said, his voice going distant. "But it is not information that the government wishes to share with the very young. Those mages much older than you are going to sort this out."

"I understand Master," Kari said in response. "Still, sir, is there anything I might do?"

"Actually, yes. You may help me to break the spells on the rain so that we may figure out it's purpose." Thom told her, offering the girl a vile of liquid. She immediately began to probe the water with her own blue-green gift, her mind wandering over everything she had learned in the past few weeks. Could it be that the Odocoil and the rain were possibly related? Was it possible that her parents and Numair, and even Alanna knew something about it? Why had her father been called 'Neal' ? And why were the Odocoil after the Queenscove family?

* * *

A/N: I apologize for not updating sooner. I really shouldn't have waited this long. Actually this is my favorite story out of all those that I right. I truly did have writers block for about a month. But the only other excuse I may offer is that school has kept me busy. But I've finally graduated. Congrats to me! Now I should be able to update this summer quite frequently, but next year is my freshman year at college, so I don't expect to be very frequent with updates then. However, I never leave a project incomplete, so this story will be finished eventually.

And, now, We've finally reached the climax. Things are falling together. Arguments and more bitchiness is yet to come! I love messing with characters! Love you all very much. See you all in a few when I bring you Chapter 11!


	11. Discovery

A/N: Nothing much to say right now, except, please read, enjoy, and review.

* * *

Days turned into weeks and weeks gave way to months. Kari soon found herself sitting in the stables of an unfamiliar Fief. The wounds that the Odocoil had given her had not healed completely, and they left her with a lasting bit of pain every once and a while. Memories of the attack had not left her. She felt deep down that there was really something more meaningful to the attack than the adults let on. Why had that single Odocoil attacked Kari so furiously and why had she heard that strange, foreign male voice.

Kari shook her head and looked up at Magespirit who was watching her.

"I just don't know. Maybe I'm being silly. It probably meant nothing at all," she told herself as she sat inside the stable that was surrounded by non-stop falling rain. Kari glared. It had been raining for months on and off and there had been more and more reports of Odocoil sightings each day. Suddenly footsteps in the stable behind her, reminded her that summer was already drawing to a close and she had yet to explore the entire fief.

"Hi, dad." she said without turning around. She was used to her father coming to visit her while she sat in the stables of Lion's Crest.

Lord Aaron came and sat beside his daughter, he stroked her head, moving his fingers gently over her scalp, being careful not to upset her wound. He knew the weather made it painful for her, but he was more than proud of her ability to ignore the pain.

"Are you ready for next week?" he asked, smiling and watching the rain as she did. Something told Kari that he knew more about the rain than he let on. She also wondered why he had been called Neal that day, but then thought that perhaps she had heard wrong. After all, she had never heard it again.

"Yes. I can't wait to get back to the palace." It was true. Kari wanted to get back to her lessons and perhaps figure out more about what was going on.

"Well, then you should get inside and pack." He told her, still watching the rain and his people as they hurried to harvest the still living portion of their crops. His heart sunk as he watched.

Kari nodded and stood up. She hugged her dad around the shoulders and then walked off, patting Magespirit's nose as she passed.

Lord Aaron looked at the horse once Kari was out of sight. "Do you think she has any idea?"

The horse shook it's head as if in understanding. Aaron laughed and gave her an apple. I didn't think so either.

* * *

The last week of summer had gone by quickly and Kari found it quite strange being back inside the palace. She also found that it was wonderful to be back home. She stood in her room, unpacking her things. She heard a quiet knock on her door and turned around. Standing in the doorway was Asten. She smiled a greeting to her friend.

"You found out I was back?"

Asten nodded. He had never left the palace. His father, Orion's parent, Raoul's, and Lillia's all had stayed to help the king. Only Kari had left. She hadn't wanted to, but she still did, only because she had never seen what her fief looked like. He walked into her room and began to help her unpack.

"How was your trip?"

"It was good. How was your summer?"

"It was alrig-" He was cut off by the sound of triumphant knocks on the door. Orion, Lillia, and Jon came into her room as well, grinning from ear to ear.

"You're back!" Orion said with a smile. Kari nodded and hugged her best friend. Asten watched, and then averted his eyes to the floor.

"Is Lion's Crest nice?" That was Jon. The young man had still not seen all of his realm, and had demanded that Kari give her feed back when she returned.

"Yeah, you'd like it Jon. But it's kind of in trouble because of the rain. They're big on farming there."

Jon nodded and clapped his hand on Kari's shoulder. She squeezed his back. Jon's mother had recently taken ill. Princess Shinkokami was one of Kari's favorite people at the palace. She hopped that Jon's mother would be alright. She remembered that her own mother looked somewhat weak when she had found out. Kari believed it took all of Reela's strength not to come rushing back to the palace. She still had no idea why it effected her mother like that. "How's your dad Lil?"

Lillia looked at her friend and nodded. "Dad's doing alright. Mom says Duke Baird might be coming home soon and he can help Dad."

Kari nodded. She liked Sir Merric. The group slowly split up. Kari hadn't expected to see Raoul. She knew he would already be off somewhere with his new knight master. But she still didn't know who it was. Raoul had been chosen over the summer and was probably out protecting people from the Odocoil. Kari threw on her best dress and was out in the hall just in time to greet the new pages as the first bell rang to call them to supper.

* * *

Kari and her fellow pages watched summer become fall and then fall give way to the coolness of winter. She learned a lot during the first half of her second year as a page. Kari was well prepared for almost anything. She and her friends were lucky enough to have off one day to do their midwinter shopping. Skipping between Asten and Orion, Karian swung her bag of presents.

"I can't wait until the holiday's are over." Kari expressed. The start of them was that evening and thus, while it was only midday, Kari and the others needed to get back to the palace to get ready. Orion and Kari were the most anxious for the holiday's to be over as it was their first time serving. They made their way up to the palace only to find the pages hall deserted.

"Something's wrong!" came Jon's voice, as he sprinted down the corridor. His friends followed him all the way to the royal chambers. There were guards all outside it, and some of the most powerful healers in the realm. Alanna, Jon's great aunt, was inside along with Numair. "Let me through" the young prince commanded, but the guards, members of the kings own shook their heads. Lady Keladry came over to see what was wrong. Tears poured from Jon's eyes. "Please. Let me in."

"Jon. It you father doesn't want you in there. Come. You all should be with the other pages," Kel said as she began to lead them all towards the mess hall where the other pages awaited news of the sick princess.

Suddenly shouting could be heard from the king's office. Kari recognized the voices and took off at a run. She stopped by the door way, her mouth flung open at the scene she found within the office. She wasn't alone in staring. The commotion had brought the arrival of Kel, Dom, Alanna, and Numair, as well as Sir Owen who had been working with some of the Own, and Kari's friends. They all gazed into the room where Kari's parents stood in heated battle with the King.

* * *

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT MY MITHROS DAMNED LIFE JON!" Aaron was saying at the top of his lungs. Reela stood beside him, sobbing and trying to get him to quiet down. "Your daughter-in-law is going to die. Your grandson will be motherless. Do you want that? You were older than him when you lost yours! Could you live with yourself?" Aaron fumed at him.

"Please, your majesty. Please. Let him heal her."

"I've already told you. If you use big magic, your disguise will be ruined." King Jonathan countered the attack.

"I'M WILLING TO ACCEPT THAT! I can't let her die with me being here and able to do something about it. Jon, I will do it with or with out your permission."

"FINE QUEENSCOVE! I DON'T CARE ANYMORE! BUT IT'S YOUR FAMILY THAT WILL BE IN DANGER!"

Karian stood still, breathless. As did Kel and Dom. Had King Jonathan just said what they thought he had. Without another word, the angered mage whirled around, marched to the door guarded by the kings own. Frightened of the man whose hands already blazed with his green gift, they parted and let him through. Everyone else outside stood breathlessly waiting for information about the Queen and the Queenscove line.

* * *

The next day, a small gathering was held inside a small room. The last time such a meeting had been held had been twelve years prior and the company had been much smaller. This time, the occupants were all seated in a circle. King Jonathan sat beside his wife, son, and daughter-in-law. Lady Alanna and Numair sat on the right of the royal family. Kel, Dom, and Owen were on the left with Kari who hadn't spoken since she had witnessed the fight. Instead she had wandered around dazed. In front of them all, Lord Aaron sat with his hand on his wife's.

Kel was the first to take a deep breath and speak, tears in her eyes. "So, it's true?"

Lord Aaron nodded, looking away so as not to make eye contact with Kel. He had saved the princess, but his family was now in more danger than ever.

Dom placed a hand on his wife's shoulder. He was just as speechless as anyone else in the room. "Meathead? No. You've got to be kidding me."

"But it's not possible. You killed yourself!" The protest came from Prince Roald. He still hadn't been informed about the discovery that the Queenscove graves were fake.

King Jonathan turned to Numair who was looking at his feet in horror. How could things have gone so horribly wrong. "Numair?"

The tall mage nodded and stood up. He went over to the two in the center and used his gift on them just as he had so many years before. Kel blinked back tears and ran to the man, crying more than she ever had in her life. He stood up and caught her in his arms, crying with her.

"Neal! Neal! I can't believe it's really you." Kel cried, Dom came over and took his wife from his cousin, tears in his own eyes, as well as in Owen's and Roald's. The moment she let go of Neal, Kel threw her arms around Yuki's neck and the two women were crying hysterically as they were joined by Princess Shinko. Alanna came to join the group.

There was only one person left sitting besides the king and queen. Kari sat there stunned. She had watched the removal of her parent's disguises with great interest. Everything seemed to be happening so fast. Who was she really?

"Kari? Kari?" It was her mother's voice, distant and kind, but the face behind it was unfamiliar. A young yamani woman was looking at her, her arm linked with a that of a tall man with Kari's green eyes. Tears poured from her eyes, anger flaring up within her. She was hurt, betrayed confused.

"Who in the name of Mithros are you! WHO AM I! What am I?" she couldn't control herself anymore. She had been silently taking everything in, letting every piece of information touch her soul. "I HATE YOU!" she screamed, jumped off the chair and ran out of the room. As she ran into the stables, her hands covering her eyes, she bumped her shoulder against Asten's, but she didn't stop. She needed to get away. To get away from the lies. The horrible lies. She threw open the door of one of the stalls, mounted Magespirit bare back, and road her straight into the Royal Forest. Asten grabbed his saddle and mounted Willow, following straight behind her, with only his practice sword and his daggers equipped on his belt.

* * *

A/N: YAY for the evilness of the climax. Could that have been anymore perfect for this point in the story! I think not! -laughs-. Well, if there is one thing I have to say, it's thank you, to all of you who have kept me motivated to keep writing. And now that I've reached the critical point in the story, it's going to be a bit easier for me to update and write. I do have a bit of bad news. As of August 17, this author is entering college, and thus the amount of time that I can donate to my writing is going to be very limited. Thus, I beg your forgiveness for the undoubtly long periods of time there will be between my updates. However, I refuse to let this story go unfinished, therefore, no matter how long it takes for an update, do not give up hope on the story. Thanks all! I do not expect to be able to post again before I go away, so I leave you with this note!  
Have fun! Live long! And Prosper!

Yes I do realize I'm crazy!

shadowkitten2

P.S.- I am considering changing my author name, so keep a look out for a notice about that in upcoming chapters.


	12. Realization

Wow, It's been a really long time. I forgot how much emotion I put into that last chapter. But anyway, college has kept me so busy. I do apologize for not updating. But here you all are, those of you that are still so loyal to this fic.

* * *

Kari rode magespirit through the forest, riding harder and faster than she had ever before in her life. Tears streamed down her face. It just wasn't possible. Her parents were Nealan and Yukimi of Queenscove. But that meant they were cowards. She was their baby daughter. They didn't die for the sake of their country. They went into hiding to save their own skins. She couldn't be part of that family. She couldn't be a coward. And most of all, she couldn't be related to them because they lied. They lied to everyone. Who was she? She didn't have an identity anymore. She was just a lost girl. A lost little girl. Her heart sunk as she rode further, but she slowed Magespirit down, realizing that she had gone into the forest unarmed.

"Damn Karian, how could you have been so stupid?" she whispered, and as if they knew she had realized it, she heard footsteps behind her. She whirled around, as the Odocoil surrounded her on all sides. "Oh Mithros! This is it. I'm going to die here and nameless." She breathed. There was absolutely nothing she could do and the immortals knew that. Their leader stepped forward, and opened his mouth. She expected to hear the sound of screeching, but instead a very human and male voice sounded from within him.

_So the calf of the Queenscove line has finally realized who she is?_

Kari swallowed, and nodded. "What do you know about me?"

_We know all. We could smell you were a Queenscove long before you knew it yourself. We know your family has wronged our master. And we know how to exact revenge._

"What do you mean?" Kari said, following the voice as it jumped from one Odocoil to another. She was frightened. They could kill her at any moment. Why did they stall.

_We will not tell. But you shall see, or perhaps you won't as you only have moments to live. But within a few months time, your land will be over run. The rain will destroy all your crops, while it helps our kind flourish and grow stronger. Our kind will destroy all of your people, from the youngest babe at his mother's breast to the oldest man, so close, he can see death. And we shall enslave you all. All for the sake of our master. Pity you won't be alive to see it. Oh, how glorious it shall be._

Kari shuddered. "No! You can't! I won't let you."

_And just what does an unarmed human female calf use to defend herself?_

He, she, it was right. She had nothing to protect herself with. There was nothing she could do, accept accept her fate. And it was no one else's fault but her own. She ran off by herself, she went unarmed, and she was well aware of what lay inside the forest.

"She's got me!" Asten shouted, Willow coming up beside Magespirit. She hadn't even heard him approach.

_A male calf with a practice sword? What are you planning to do? Make us laugh ourselves to death?_

Asten glared at him, as if that would do him much good. He knew their chances of survival were one in a million, but he wouldn't let anyone hurt Kari without putting up a fight. He pulled a dagger from his belt and threw it at one of the immortals, striking him in the eye. The creature went down in an instant, screeching as it fell in a pool of it's own blood. "RUN!" he commanded Kari, and they turned their horses, galloping back towards the palace. The Odocoil pursued, running swiftly. Several times, Kari felt their knife like claws in her back and on her legs. Asten tossed her a dagger, which she used to hack away at their arms everytime they got to close. He used his own sword to hold them off, but he could feel his clothes saturated with blood. Kari's eyes teared, and suddenly she felt herself pulled back off her horse, an Odocoil's claws embedded in both her shoulders. Asten leapt off Willow and ran toward her, his sword raised in the air. As the Odocoil's claws raised to slice through Kari's throat, he charged down the immortal, using his blunt sword to cut him from naval up. He drew close to Kari, who couldn't get up. Her eyes were closing as the blood drew around her. Asten fought them off as hard as he could, watching the life seep away from the younger girl. Suddenly, he felt an ice cold claw cut through him. He dropped his sword and looked down at his right shoulder. The tips of three claws stuck out just below his shoulder blade. He felt the immortal withdraw his clawed hand from his back. He collapsed to his knees, bleeding profusely as everything went black.

* * *

She sat beside his bed later that week, her entire body bandaged, her spirit wounded. Tears were forever in her eyes as she watched his unconscious form. A figure pressed itself against the doorframe, watching her as she held his cold hand in her own, running her delicate fingers along his skin. He sighed and walked closer to her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. She shrugged him away.

"Don't touch me." Her voice stung him like acid, as he removed his hand.

"Kari…"

"This is your fault. Yours and Mama's. I can't believe you. Not a word you say. How could you have been so cowardly?"

Neal shook his head, and stepped away from his daughter. Her voice shook with rage, as tears streamed down her face. She looked into his eyes, so much like her own, and yet there was nothing of the man she once knew.

"Kari…"

She pouted, she ought to hate this man who was in front of her. She did hate him. But he was still her father. And the boy she loved was dieing, right before her eyes, he was slipping away.

"Daddy!" She threw her arms around his middle. She needed him right then. No matter how mad at him she was, she needed him.

"Hush."

"Daddy, can you save him? The Odocoil already know you're alive. Please, save Asten." She cried into his shirt. Neal sighed, and nodded.

"The king has forbade me for using anymore magic, but I don't care. Too many people will support me anyway. Close the door." Kari ran to obey. She locked it and sealed it with her own gift as Lord Thom taught her. Neal smiled at her. "You're gonna be a great mage one day Kari." He shut his eyes and concentrated, slowly sowing all of Astens muscles, tissues, and tendons back together. He mended the bones. His biggest worry was the nerves. He concentrated, trying his hardest to re connect everything. He had to, for Kari's sake. For the sake of his friends who still didn't know he was alive. For Merric, For Esmond, For Faleron.

Four hours later, he came out of his trance, tired, sweating, and breathing hard. Kari fetched him a glass of water. He leaned back against the wall.

"Daddy?"

"Hmmm?"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you and mommy go into hiding? Why didn't you really sacrifice yourself? And why did you lie to everyone?"

"For you baby. It was all for you. We loved you so much, and we still do. We couldn't take away your life when it had barely begun. We would have sacrificed everything had we not had you. But your mother and I cared more about you having a successful and full life than about our own reputations."

"But you lost so much."

"And I'd do it all again for you, Kari. You've turned into the person I can be proud of."

She sat down beside him and laided her head on his shoulder, closing her eyes. "Daddy, I don't know who I am. How can that make you proud?"

"Because a name means nothing. You're still my Kari. You're still the young page who loves her friends, and has big dreams. You're still Kel's number one fan." He smiled at her.

She nodded and began to drift to sleep. A cough from the bed drew her attention. Her eyes flung open as a voice, soft, but strong called her.

"Kari?"

"Asten. Thank Mithros, you're ok." She ran to his bedside, gripping his hand.

"Kari, who healed me?"

"My father."

"Your dad?"

"Yes, Nealan of Queenscove healed you. He made you better." She ran his hand on her cheek. Asten nodded.

"Kari?"

"Yes?"

"I love you." He wiped a tear away from her eye.

"I love you too, Asten."

"I'm glad." He slowly shut his eyes and drifted to sleep. Nealan watched the two of them, a small smile on his face as he watched his little girl.

"Kari, it's time to get some rest." It was already two bells past midnight. She sighed and nodded, standing and hugging her father one more time. "Goodnight, Dad. I love you."

"I love you too, little one. Sleep well."

He walked into the hall and watched her go in one direction.

"You've sorted it out with her?" his wife asked, coming to stand beside him, laying her head on his shoulder.

"I had to break Jonathan's rule, but yeah, she trusts me now."

"I'm glad. But what are you going to do about the king?"

"Honestly, Yuki, I don't know. I have absolutely no idea.

* * *

Faleron walked down the guest corridor of the palace, having just finished visiting his son in the infirmary. He thanked Mithros everyday that Lord Raoul had seen Kari and Asten ride off. Had he and his companion, Sir Garieth, arrived even a few seconds after, both Kari and Asten would have died. Finding his son that morning, not just alive, but conscious and healed, was the most wonderful thing in the world.

He reached the door to the rooms that Karian's parents occupied. He wanted to thank the man who had saved his son when no other mage had been able to. He knocked swiftly on the door.

"Come in," Lord Aaron's familiar voice reached his ears. Faleron opened the door and frowned at the sight of a tall man's long brown hair pulled back in a horse tail, instead of the short, sandy blond hair of Karian's father.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was looking for Lord Aaron of Lion's Crest," Faleron informed him. The tall man turned around. Obviously this man had yet to hear the news. He looked at Faleron with brilliant green eyes, which went wide when he realized that he was talking to one of his friends from his past. Faleron of King's Reach frowned at him.

"Faleron," Neal said in a whisper.

"It's true? The rumors are true? No. You can't be. It's not possible. You're dead."

"Faleron, no. I-"

"Mithros, Neal, it is you. You're Karian's father? You went on that ride with us last year, and you didn't say anything?"

"I couldn't Faleron. It would endanger Kari, myself, and Yuki. But Mithros, I wanted to. I saw Kel the night before and I wanted to talk to you all. So badly. I wanted to reveal myself."

"How did you?" Faleron asked, coming farther into the room and sitting down on the couch. "I mean, how did you reveal yourse?"

"Well, Shinko was sick. I couldn't sit by and let the Princess die. King Jonathan wanted me to stay hidden, but I had to save her." Neal explained, sitting beside him. Faleron nodded.

"I still, well, I can't believe it's you. But… you healed Asten? You saved my boy?"

Neal nodded. "Jon forbid it, but Kari begged me, and he was your son. How could I sit by with the power to do something and not do it? I'd be even more of a coward than I already am."

"You disobeyed the king, twice. I don't think even Roald can save you, now. You're no coward. You're nuts." Faleron said, punching him in the shoulder slightly.

"Hey, I'd have to be nuts… I survived page training under the Stump. Who wouldn't be nuts?" Neal laughed. Faleron grinned and raised his hand. "Hey!" Neal frowned playfully. Faleron stood up laughing.

"I just came by to thank you for saving my son. He's my only child."

"I know how you feel. Ever since we sent Kari to Tortall, she's been in danger and getting hurt. I apologize that your son got so close to her, that he got hurt too."

"Don't. There's a strong connection between them. I'm glad Asten could help them stall for time. They helped each other like they're supposed to help their fellow pages."

Neal smiled. "As we did?" He remembered the time in the cliff with the bandits.

"Yeah. But… I got to go. I need to go back to Asten and his mom."

"I understand. Thanks for coming by Faleron."

"It's great to have you back, Neal. Kel must be thrilled."

"Oh, I am," Kel appeared in the doorway, her arms folded over her chest. "Hey Fal, you finally found him?"

Faleron laughed. "He hid from us, huh? You gonna let him live it down Kel?"

"Nope."

"And she'll have help," Owen said sticking his head in the door from the other side. Faleron nodded and excused himself once more, walking back towards the infirmary, while Kel and Owen entered Neal's room.

* * *

A week later Karian and Asten returned to their page training, after pleading with the training master to let them. They sat at the breakfast table for the first time with their friends. Lillia, Orion, and Jon kept looking and each other and back at the second year and third year. In only a few weeks they would all take their exams again. Lillia would take her big examinations and join Raoul as a squire. Aram of Kennen would finally join them in the fall. But at that moment, all those things were far from their mind.

"Kari?" Orion was the first to break the silence. She looked up at him, her eyes clear and translucent. She didn't want him to know she was scared of this meeting. After all, he was her best friend. "I-I guess this makes us cousins?" he said with a smile.

He wasn't mad. He didn't hate her because of what her parents had done. He still wanted to be her friend. He wanted to be her cousin. Kari grinned and threw her arms around the taller boy's neck. "Yes! The best cousins there ever were."

"We're cousins too, Kari," Prince Jon reminded her (For all who might have forgotten, Neal's father, Duke Baird of Queenscove is the brother to Prince Jon's Great Grandmother, King Jonathan's mother.). Kari nodded and hugged him also.

"I can't believe you're a Queenscove," Lillia told her, a smile on her face. "But I'm really glad you are. Dad says that you're father's a good man. He said that your parents aren't cowards. But he doesn't know if he believes it."

"Why not?" Asten asked, frowning at his cousin. (Again, minor detail: Faleron and Merric are cousins).

"Dad says only a Queenscove could heal him, and he's never met Kari's dad. He doesn't think he could heal him."

"I bet he could!" Kari said. "He just doesn't know that Sir Merric is blind. Papa helped healed him a long time ago, I've heard the stories. I'm sure all your dad's have told you. And Orion, your mom is bound to have told you?"

They all smiled and nodded. "It was destiny." Jon said.

"What is?" Orion asked, frowning.

"That we'd all be friends," the prince finished. "Our parents were friends and so are we."

They all smiled and laughed.

"What's this? Nameless laughing with a bunch of nothings." Shale said with a smirk. Leon had his hands resting on her shoulders. It was common knowledge among the pages that the two were a couple. "Oh, I beg your pardon, your highness, I didn't see you among the scum."

"Watch who you're calling scum, Tires, or you'll find yourself working nothing but law enforcement if you ever get your shield." Jon told her and stood up. He excused himself from his friends, telling them that he had to go and see his father and grandfather. As soon as he was gone, Shale looked back at the others.

"So, Nameless is really the daughter of cowards and liars."

Kari glared at the girl. "My parents are not cowards or liars. They're brave and honest people."

"That's why they hid for so many years?"

"No. They did that so that Tortall wouldn't go to war and they could make a life for me. Besides, my family has a much better name than yours, so what makes you think you're so much better?"

Shale paused for a second. "I don't have to take this." She sputtered, gripping her silent boyfriend's hand.

"Then why don't you return to the slime hole you crawled out of?" A deep voice asked behind Shale and Leon. They spun and looked up into the coal eyes of a tall fourteen year old.

Shale frowned and fled, Leon trailing behind her.

"Raoul! You're back!" Lillia threw her arms around his waist, a warm glow in the teens eyes. He looked at her back with longing.

"I saw them kiss goodbye," Orion whispered to Kari; his friend giggled silently under her hand. Yet she shot a quick look at Asten, accompanied by a smile.

"Yeah, we just got in. Hey Kari, I hear you're a Queenscove."

Kari sighed and nodded. "You heard."

"Yep."

"You're not ashamed to be my friend?"

"Nope. I always thought there was something special about you." He hugged her around the shoulders.

"Thanks Raoul."

Lord Padraig entered the room, and all of the pages and squires in the hall quieted down. Kari settled down between Orion and Asten. She was welcome there. No matter who she was. She was welcome there as a friend, part of the there family. She looked at Asten, and caught his eye. And maybe even more.

* * *

Kari sat straight up in bed. It was just dawn on Sunday, the pages day off. But that didn't mean everyone in the palace had the day off. And Kari had just remembered the warning that the Odocoil had gave her, right before they tried to murder her. She threw her covers off her and quickly managed to throw on her best shirt and breeches. Then she pulled on a crimson tunic and left the room, hastily remembering to lock the door. She had to tell someone. And she had to tell someone immediately. She sprinted down the corridors, only to bump into another page as she ran.

"I-I'm sorry. I must-"  
"Kari? What's wrong?" The older boy gripped her shoulders and held her still. She was breathing really hard. Kari looked up at the familiar voice, and into the deep blue eyes of her sponser from the previous year.

"Jon. It's you."

"Yeah, Kari, what's the rush?"

"I- the Odocoil. They gave me a warning before they attacked. They told me their plan because they didn't think I'd escape and live. I have to tell someone." Her green eyes pleaded with the prince for help. Jon nodded.

"Follow me." He swiftly lead her down the back corridors of the palace and into the private living chambers of the royal family. Kari had never been there before. She walked silently, as she traveled the slightly decorated halls. Some how, she imagined that the Conte family would decorate their living quarters a bit more extravagantly. Jon stopped outside the family's dinning hall.

"Father and Mother are taking breakfast with Granddad, and Grandmother." Jon told Kari as he knocked on the door lightly. Kari had a feeling the older page had just left them.

"Come in," a cool crisp voice rang from inside the chamber. Kari shuddered at the voice of the king, yet she followed her friend inside.

"Jonathan, I thought you just left?" his mother asked him politely.

"I did, mother, but I met Karian in the halls and she said she had very important news to convey. So I brought her straight to his majesty." Jon bowed down to his grandfather. His younger siblings, Elisa and Areleana, the twin eight year old princesses sat quietly between their parents. Prince Roald, Princess Shiko, and even Queen Thayet, all looked toward the king to see if he would receive the girl. Kari, like Jon bowed low, and never looked up at any of the royal family. Jon, however, sent a silent, pleading, glare to his grandfather.

King Jonathan sighed and placed his napkin down. "Very well. Roald, bring Queenscove to my office in fifteen minutes. He stood swiftly and left the dinning room, his wife quickly excusing herself and chasing after him.

"Don't worry, Kari. Father is always cranky in the mornings," Roald told her with a smile. Kari relaxed a little, as she knew that the crown prince and his wife were good friends of her mother and father.

Fifteen minutes later, Kari found herself in the presence of King Jonathan of Conte, and his sons Prince Roald, Prince Liam and Prince Jasson of Conte. The two younger princes sat on either side of their father, while Roald stood behind Karian for support.

"Alright Queenscove," the king stated. Kari closed her eyes, letting the name that was so foreign to her ears sink in. "What have you to tell me?"

Kari took a deep breath and told King Jonathan everything she had been told by the immortals.

* * *

Merric found himself in the deserted halls of the palace. It was the pages day off and it was so nice out that almost no one was around. He had gotten separated from his guide when a troop of the men at arms came through, and he had wandered a bit until he reached the royal library. Placing his hands along the plaque that marked the name of the place he was, he sat down on a stone bench along the wall.

"Just great, who in their right mind would come to the library on such a beautiful day." He sighed, knowing he would have to wait a while before someone found him. Merric slammed his fist into the stone bench. "Damn it! Why in the name of Mithros? Why did you do this to me?" He cried out, his voice echoing against the marble walls of the palace. Tears fell from his eyes as he sat, regretting that he had ever fought the Odocoil. A man stuck his head out from the library doors, wondering where all the noise was coming from. He gazed at the blind knight who sat on the bench alone, cursing himself.

"Sir, can I ask may I ask what troubles you?"

Merric was startled by the sound of another voice. He settled down and nodded as the man came closer. "I just want to see my daughter again. See her big examinations. I want to fight again. I'm a knight, for Mithros sake."

The man examined him, and yet did not recognize him. "You can't see?"

"No. I had an encounter with the Odocoil a few months back, and the only healer left alive that could give me vision again, is abroad."

"Well, maybe I could help. I do have the gift. I could try."

"You can try, but it'll be no use. Only one family has the power to heal me." Merric informed him. The man looked at him, examining the eyes that seemed so bright, almost as if they could see him.

"I'd like to try anyway." He shut his own green eyes and let his power flow out into the eyes of his patient. He quickly found the problem and began to correct it.

Merric froze as the feeling of a mage's power entered his form. However, the magic was familiar to his body. He had felt it at least once before, if not many times before. His inner eye could see the bright green gift as it floated through him. Suddenly his vision began to clear, he wasn't sure if it was his minds eye painting a picture of the hall for him, or actual sight, but he saw something. The man came into his focus, smiling as Merric blinked several times, the light of the area, making it difficult for him to open his eyes once again. Finally, he could see clearly. Merric looked at the man who had helped him. The man looked tired, and worn.

"D-Duke Baird?" he asked, hesitantly. The man shook his head and frowned at him. Suddenly the Knights face lit up.

"Neal! Mithros, I'd know that magic anywhere. You've save my life more than once." He breathed. "But you're dead, how can this be?"

"Do I know you?" Neal frowned, feeling very drained from the healing he had just done. Tears formed in Merric's eyes as he looked at his childhood friend.

"How could you not? I mean, when we were pages, you practically saved my life that day."

Neal frowned and looked closer at the knight. "Me-merric?"

The knight nodded, "And now you've given me back the ability to see! B-but you're dead, aren't you?"

Neal ignored his question and pulled his friend into a hug. It had been so long. So very long since he had seen these people. It was good to be home again.

* * *

Well, that's all for chapter 12. I'm not going to go another six/seven months without updating ever again. I really do apologize for that. Please forgive me. Anyway, if you're still reading this, and you like it, please, don't hesitate to review. Anyway, I'll update soon, I promise. Until then, enjoy everything life gives you.

Fateless Wanderer


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